Archaeological surveys conducted at the location of the Church of Our Lady of

Sita revealed the remains of a large, lavish Roman villa from the period of Late

Antiquity (parts of a mosaic and thermal complex), on whose foundations the Church

of St Mary was built in the Middle Ages, and a graveyard where 28 tombstones and

tombs were studied. Mediaeval historical sources mention this locality and the

Church of St Mary as being under the ownership of the Benedictine monastery of St

Stephen near Split. A monastery document from 1129 is the oldest written source

that mentions the church and its Croatian builders (under the romanised name

Schiavoni). The church is mentioned in a contract from 1430 that the villagers of

Opaće Selo (i.e. the peasants that tilled the land of the monastery and were buried in

the graveyard next to the church) concluded with the abbot of this monastery under

the name St Mary of Sita. The said village was abandoned in the mid-16 th century,

together with the church, which fell into ruin during the Ottoman-Venetian Wars (16 th

– 17 th century). It was renovated in the 18 th century, only to be completely razed in

1944. A new church was built on its foundations in 1954, into which several elements

of the old church were incorporated: a rosette, belfry, lintel and arch. A tombstone

from the nearby necropolis serves as an altar mensa in this church, while a Roman

milestone found in Miljevac serves as the altar base.

In the immediate vicinity of this small stone church today stands the large,

modern building of the parish church and pastoral centre of Our Lady of Sita, which

was built in 2007.