The Sanctuary of Blessed Virgin Mary of Snow, Lic

St. George’s Church from 1662 is situated in Lič, the oldest town of the district of Fužine, and the Sanctuary of Virgin Mary of Snow is in Ličko polje.

The sanctuary’s history goes back to 1733 when, according to tradition, the people from Lika started to renovate the dilapidated St. John the Baptist Church which kept collapsing. On August 5^th, snow fell and covered the little chapel in which Mother of God appeared. Therefore, instead of the original idea, the chapel was built dedicated to the Virgin Mary of Snow. Processions were organised. In the midst of World War II, the partisans stored in the chapel the weapons won after the Italian surrender. On 10^th October, 1943, it was mined by the Germans. The townsmen saved the altar painting and the cross made of white marble from the top of the high altar. After the end of the war, the townsmen, who also made a pilgrimage to the ruins, took care of the ruins of the parish residence, which had also been burnt, and the church ruins. In the 1970s, the traditional blessing of the vehicles began which is, besides in Lič, performed only on Trški Vrh near Krapina.

Msgr. Ivan Devčić, the Archbishop of Rijeka, blessed the beginning of the construction work on the Sanctuary of Blessed Virgin Mary of Snow on 5^th August, 2001. The church construction was completed on 5^th August, 2002.

Nearby is St. John’s Hill with a marked route of the Way of the Cross and a chapel built in honour of Pope John Paul II.