As you would expect for a settlement located at the entrance to a 2000 years old city Stari Grad, the history of Eremitaž is long and interesting. In 1487, on the site of this restaurant and next to the church od St. Jerome, a monk, Nikola Barbeta established a hermitage for monks who prefered the life of isolation. This site, at the entrance to Stari Grad harbour, has been occupied ever since. De
spite a Vatican ban on worship in languages other than Latin those hermits of the 15th century prayed and gave church services in the old Croatian language of Glagolica thereby contributing to the survival of Croatian. We know that in 1579, Valier, representing the Bishop, found the hermitage occupied by two nuns, Katerina Barbeta and Stana Miličević, who were looking after the church. In the 17th century the nuns and monks had gone and the hermitage, the site of today's restaurant, changed it use. It became a hostel for travellers and marines required to serve a period of quarantine before entering Stari Grad. At the east entrance to the restaurant there is a tablet inscribed "Questa e casa per li Viadanti" (this is a house for travellers). Another memorial to these times is the round tower on the other side of the harbour directly across from the restaurant. During the quarantine period a chain streched across the harbour mouth, from here to the windmill, to prevent boats entering the harbour until they had served this quarantine. Today we hope that the delights of our restaurants will be sufficient to make you a willing and frequent visitor to this Eremitaž. Jerome
As you leave Eremitaž you might like to visit the church of St.Jerome. Above the entrance you will find a relief, still preserved, of St.Jerome and lions in the desert, with an old Italian inscription which, when translated, reads "Before you enter to worship God make peace with your brother". On the sea side wall is a 15th century niche with the Virgin, the protector of seafarers. In the ceiling are set the bottom halves of two amphoras and above the recess is a stone urn.
