Krivodol – Ujević Heritage and Archaeological Traces

Krivodol brings together the biographies of the Ujević family, literary memory and archaeological traces. Visitors who choose the place for a trip can explore its history through individuals, named sites and archaeological finds.

The Ujević Family: Biographies and Remembrance

The Krivodol family home was the birthplace of Ivan Ujević, father of the poet Tin Ujević and one of the first teachers from the Imotski region. Tin Ujević stayed at the family home during his school years in Imotski and during his “hundred days in Imotski and Krivodol.”

The first bust of Tin Ujević was created at the school in 1977; it was later stolen. In 2015, a stone portrait of the poet by Stipan Kujundžić was installed there. St. Michael’s Square includes a chapel built in 1779 and a sculpture of Tin Ujević carved from Imotski stone. A series of poetry evenings, held in August, began there in 2011.

Other biographies from Krivodol add to these literary traces. Fra Ćiro Ujević was born in Krivodol on 8 May 1902 and served as parish priest, guardian and archpriest in Imotski from 1937 to 1949. Ante Ujević was born in Krivodol in 1924, founded the journal Sjemenarstvo and was its first editor. Petar Ujević, born in Krivodol in 1960, created several sculptures for public spaces.

Educational Routes, Orientation and Landscape

The Ujević educational route network includes routes or stops named Krivodol–Trg svetog Mihovila, Krivodol–OŠ “Tin Ujević”, Krivodol–Turići and Krivodol–Đirada. T4 Krivodol – the family home is a stop on the Ujević educational route. The names connect specific places with the literary and biographical theme, without suggesting that every stop tells the same story.

Đirada also offers a point of reference: it is a crossroads for routes towards the fields through Čujići. The onward routes towards Imotski run either through the fields or along the main road through Grubine. Different directions and route connections thus sit alongside one another, rather than prescribing a single way to Imotski.

A nearby landscape connection leads to Lokvičići. Sumbulova gradina lies about 1.5 kilometres from Krivodol in the direction of Split and offers wide views across Imotsko polje and the surrounding karst lakes. The view from there is considered to have inspired many verses of Tin Ujević’s “Uspavanka iz Krivodola”; here, landscape and literature meet in a specifically named connection.

Archaeological Traces

Gusići I is a named stone mound in the Krivodol area near Trilj. Archaeological fieldwork reported in 2023 uncovered two intact stone-cist graves there. A C14 analysis dated one of the graves to between 1950 and 1650 BC, in the first half of the second millennium BC. Gusići II comprises three intact stone-cist graves. The dating applies to one of the graves at Gusići I, not to all the finds.

Kukina gomila is another named archaeological site: the stone mound is located in the hamlet of Gilići-Kuko in Krivodol and measures about 30 metres in diameter and 3 to 4 metres in height. Together, these different place connections show how Krivodol can be explored through family biographies, literary remembrance and archaeological finds.

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For the wider travel overview: Općina Trilj.