BRAC STONE - FROM DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE TO WHITE HOUSE

BRAC, 16 Aug (Hina) - The stone from some ten quarries on the island of Brac has been built into many famous buildings, such as Diocletian's Palace in Split and the White House in Washington. The white stone from Brac is still highly valued and exported to Australia and the United States. The stone from the island of Brac was used not only in the construction of Diocletian's Palace and the White House but also in the construction of numerous palaces in Berlin, the New Castle and Parliament buildings in Vienna, the Governor's Palace in Trieste, a section of the Parliament building in Budapest, Battery park in New York and many others. Many famous builders such as Juraj of Dalmatia, Nikola the Florentine and Andrija Alesi dug out stone from Brac quarries, especially the one near Pucisca. Pucisca is the birthplace of Trifun Bokanic, the architect of the famous Trogir belfry and the Hvar Loggia, as well as of Ivan Puljizic, the renown architect in the Vatican at the time of Pope Innocent X. Pucisca is the birthplace of the renowned representatives of modern Croatian sculpture Branko Deskovic and Vale Michielli. Pucisca has a school for stonemasons, the only one of that kind in Croatia. The school maintains the 'Roman school' of hand- cut stone and uses both modern machines and traditional tools. (hina) rm 161115 MET aug 97