UNESCO

Jelsa and UNESCO: In this small area there are even three cultural monuments on famous UNESCO list of world intangible heritage. Procession "Following the Cross" is a practice unique in world, that takes place continuously for 400 years! Procession is the heritage of the whole island. It begins on Maundy Thursday, with mass at six parishes: Jelsa, Pitve, Vrisnik, Svirce, Vrbanj and Vrboska, after which the faithful of each parish attend the 25 km long procession, which lasts all night until the early morning of Holy Friday. It is therefore 6 procession, which in clockwise circular visit other places, and never to meet. The cross bearer leads the procession, which is for this honorable task selected dozens of years earlier, sometimes at birth. The cross bearer walks barefoot or in socks, cross that bears weighs 18 kg, followed by the fraternity brothers in white tunics (laymen), and many people, all with lighted candles and rosaries. During this procession folk songs about the Passion of Christ are sung.

Stari Grad Plain (ager) is the best preserved ancient - greek landscape in the Mediterranean. The story of this field begins 385th year BC, when the island of Paros in the Aegean Sea sent a group of a hundred families in the Adriatic Sea to found a colony there. Okist headed them, whose duty was to make a proper division of conquered land to the settlers. Middle of the field is determined by the starting point (omphalos), so the field is with a simple instrument measured and divided into parcels. Boundary stones were erected, on which were inscribed the names of the owners. After there were built ancillary buildings and dwellings, among which is now found cca 60 luxury from Roman times. It is the opinion of the World Organization UNESCO that the local vineyards and olive trees remained "virtually unchanged" from the first colonization of the ancient Greeks and that this is unique example of the geometric division of the country, which was used in antiquity.

Hvar lace is an extraordinary tradition, both materially and spiritually valuable. It is a beautiful lace made of agave, a typical mediterranean plants, by the nuns of the Benedictine monastery in Hvar. Hvar lace is made of thin and solid threads extracted from fresh leaves of agave, which must not be younger than 3 years. The thread length of 1 meter is extracted from the leaves, followed by additional treatment, and only then are ready for the process of making lace. The tradition of making lace from the agave plant date from mid-19th century, when local sailors brought a copy of the lace from Tenerife, after which, having studied the pattern adopted, Hvar nuns produced more beautiful, original and unique example of Hvar lace. An interesting is that once made lace is not washed but kept under glass in order to fully protect. These threads of agave follows the legend of the early neolithic man in Hvar archipelago who fished using a net made of just agave threads.