Cultural Centre

General Information

The Cultural Center is centrally located besides the Parochial Church of St.John. The former school building, built in the second half of 19th century, houses Vela Luka Library, Archeological Museum and the Art Gallery, and provides an attractive space for other cultural events such as:
Native music and dance performances, recitals, or Vela Luka's Folksingers group (Klapa) concerts.

The Cultural Centre accommodates several valuable museums collections: the archeological finds from The Neolithic Vela Spila (Big Cave), collection of wooden ships crafted by the late self-thought artist Nedo Gugic and an international collection of donated drawings, graphics and small sculptures.

The art collection consists of works by both worldwide known national artists (Murtic, Lipovac, Ruzic, Picelj, etc.) and internationally renowned artists works (Erro, Lindstrom, Monory, Soto and others, as well as two Henry Moore's sculptures). The International collection has been donated to Vela Luka after the high tide hit Vela Luka in 1978.

The wooden Ship Collection was handcrafted by the late woodcraftsman Nedo Gugic. In a outstanding way, its shows ships from various historical periods.

The archeological locality of Vela Spila, above the Kale Cove in the Vela Luka Bay, is in all probability one of the most important prehistoric Mediterranean finds. Continuous settlements from the last glacial to the newest prehistoric periods, have been found in the 7.5 meters deep stratums. The quantity of artifacts, their importance, variety and their rich decorative motifs place Vela Spila amongst the onset of the modern European civilization.

Ten abstract and figurative mosaics compositions, made in 1986 during the International Artists Symposium, are exhibited in the Cultural Centre's atrium. Particulary attractive is the floor mosaics by Ferdinand Kulmer in the entrance hall to the inner courtyard that depicts an octopus.

Along with these, mosaics can be seen at various other locations throughout the town. Or instance, on the main street, one will find an interesting mosaics panel made by several artists depicting a pigeon, which is the symbol of Vela Luka.