In older times this island was well known for its rich coral finds, perhaps the same that stud the verses of baroque Croatian poets, replacing gold and other precious metals. Corals are also mentioned in a local poetical work, MaGus and Cavalica by Vlaho Skvadrovic, born on Kolocep in 1643. This writer was employed for many years in the office of the Dubrovnik Diocese and remains one of the most important eye witnesses of the great earthquake in Dubrovnik. Immediately after this catastrophic event Skvadrovic wrote several letters -and these pages are among the most detailed surviving descriptions of the event. When the tremor began Skvadrovic was attending mass in the chapel of the Rector's Palace, as one of the archbishop's retinue. He ran into the street in his vestments and, together with the archbishop, fled from Ploce towards Gruz. Two weeks later he wrote the first of his letters to his uncle in Italy where he informs him that the fire which broke out after the earthquake had gutted seven eighths of the houses, as well as all the churches and monasteries in the town. In the second letter he describes the exodus of patricians, merchants and ordinary people, but also mentions the initiative of some citizens at restoring life in the devastated city. Soon after arriving in Ancona, the archbishop of Dubrovnik, Tores, printed his own account of the catastrophe which is in many details identical to those offered by his secretary Skvadrovic in his letters to his uncle. Kolocep island has another name, Kalamota, presumably of Greek origin. This etymology was also suggested by Skvadrovic in his poem on Macus and Gavalica, two hills on Kolocep, which converse like two lo¬vers and must surmount various obstacles, one of them in the shape of a she-bear!
This interesting island also bears memories of the Drzic family, which held the protectorate over the local church of St Peter, an economic privilege inherited by Marin Drzic from his uncle Andrija in 1526. Walking from Donje Gelo in the direction of Gornje Gelo one can visit a rather pretty village graveyard. Left and right of the main road are several chapels from the early Middle Ages, decorated with typical old Croatian ornaments. In the western part of the island lie the remains of a fortification built around 1571 , when the Turks were preparing to attack and plunder the island. In the church of St John the Abbot there is an exceptionally valuable painting dated 1434, the only surviving work of Ivan Ugrinovic, an early painter still strongly influenced by Byzantine art. This famous altarpiece is composed of two horizontal rows of figures with six standing figures of saints surrounding the Madonna and child below, and six busts above. The Crucifixion is placed in the centre, with the archangels Gabriel and Michael in separate sections on the sides. This painting is certainly one of the best specimens of the Dubrovnik school of painting, forming part of a small collection that we could assemble from memory, or peripatetically, if we chose to walk, and sail, from the Rector's Palace to the Dominican monastery, from the island Lopud to the little church on Dance and finally here, to the island Kolocep.