 
Brdo - Berdo (Briani) Churches and Cemeteries |
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Church of St. George
At the summit of the Brdo hill is the parish church of Brdo in the center of the local cemetery and dedicated to St. George. The church was already mentioned in the 11th century, but the present church was built in 1718 on the foundations of an older church dating from 1622. The church was radicallly restored in 1898 and restored again in 1998 with funds donated by the former inhabitants of the Brdo area who are now living in the United States (principally around New York City in the state of New York).
The parish was originally part of the diocese of Pićan (Pedena), which has since been abandoned. The church is well-preserved both on the interior and exterior. On the exterior wall is the following inscription:
The church was built on a cross plan, with one nave with three altars with statues of saints and a pala of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Anthony of Padua dating from 1746..
Above the main altar are the statues of St. George in the center, St. Peter on the left, and St. Paul on the right. On the lateral side altars are shrines to St. Joseph on the left altar, and the shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Anthony of Padua, dating from 1746, on the right altar.
The Church also contains a baptistery, a pulpit and a choir. A Way of The Cross, well-made and inscribed in Italian, decorates the side aisles. On the partition wall is a beautiful baptismal font made of wood and stone.
The wooden kiosk (edicola) shown in the interior photograph above and the detail photograph below (right) is to the right of the main altar but outside of the presbytery, and contains a small statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. The kiosk was constructed around 1920-30 by the peasant sculptor Giovanni Liubicich (Ive lu Petrhulj), the uncle of Antonio Dianich. Is is 52 cm. tall (20 in. x 47 in.).
Many tombstones are visible on the floor, dating back to the 1600s and 1700s. In the middle of the church, in front of the main altar, there is a handsome stone sepulchre that was built in 1635 on special commission for Francesco Bagni, an aristocrat from Berdo, for the tomb of his wife and daughter. This tombstone, the most important in the church, is decorated with the family coat of arms - an eagle standing erect and with spread wings on the peak of a mountain surmounted by a six-pointed star with the inscription:
At the foot of the opposite altar, that of St. Joseph, we find on the tombstone:
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On the left side of the altar of St. Joseph, we read this inscription:
The following inscription is on the altar of St. Anthony:
On the altar of the same chapel is this inscription:
In front of the altar of St. Anthony is a tombstone with this epigraph:
On the left wall of the chapel of St. Anthony is this other inscription:
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Bibliography:
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This page compliments of Marisa Ciceran, Antonio Dianich, Vladimiro Gagliardi and Klaudijo Lazarić
Created: Monday, Aprl 29, 2002; Last updated:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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