Fraternities or secular schools (older name brašćine, skule; Lat. confraternitates, scholae; Italian fraternite, fratellanze, fradaie, scuole laiche) are voluntary associations of the lay faithful. The first Christian communities were already formed in the first few centuries AD when individuals organized to provide mutual assistance and joint celebration of the liturgy. In today´s terms, fraternities occurred in the 12th and 13th century in Italy, whence they spread to the eastern Adriatic coast. According to their characteristics they can be devided into several types: fraternities with exclusively religious features, guilds that emerged to protect their own economic interest or those who had the elements of both. Fraternities of mainly mixed character were established on the Cres-Lošinj archipelago, as well as on the entire Croatian Adriatic coast.

 

Exhibition is open till October 3, 2014.