HAMEAU DE MASNA LUKA

Nestled in a pine forest at the foot of Mount Pločno (2,228 m above sea level), Masna Luka (pronounced "masna louka") officially has only one permanent inhabitant. However, it is the "capital" of the Blidinje Nature Park. It is home to the park's information center, the Dream Team Balloons, two equestrian centers, but also the Pločno Mountain Club's chalet and the largest Catholic church in the area, a modern and rather elegant building dedicated to St. Elijah. Located in a swampy, wooded area at 1,204 m above sea level, Masna Luka was never really inhabited. But for at least five centuries it was the main summer pasture for Catholic shepherds from Herzegovina and Tropolje. Franciscan monks accompanied the transhumance. They built a wooden church in the middle of the forest in 1735, which was destroyed by the Chetniks in 1942. The present church was built on the same site in 1981 under the impulse of the monk Petar Krasić, creator of the nature park. Completed thirty years later, it has a 23-meter high bell tower and beautiful contemporary stained glass windows. Accompanied by a large chaplaincy that hosts spiritual retreats, the complex is often referred to as a "monastery" even though no monks reside there. But the site is splendid with, not far away, the source of the Jasla and, all around, a forest reserve classified since 1966 which shelters the highest concentration in the world of the endemic white pine of Bosnia(Pinus heldreichii Christ).