Biševo

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Adriatic Sea island of Croatia

title: "Biševo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["islands-of-split-dalmatia-county", "important-bird-areas-of-croatia", "important-bird-areas-of-adriatic-islands", "islands-of-the-adriatic-sea"] description: "Adriatic Sea island of Croatia" topic_path: "general/islands-of-split-dalmatia-county" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biševo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Adriatic Sea island of Croatia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox islands"]

Field	Value
name	Biševo
map	Croatia
image_name	Biševo Island - Croatia.jpg
image_caption	Biševo island seen from an airplane.
image_size	270
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	9
mapframe-stroke-width	1
native_name_link	Croatian
location	Adriatic Sea
coordinates
area_km2	5.8
highest_mount	Stražbenica
elevation_m	239
country	Croatia
country_admin_divisions_title	County
country_admin_divisions	Split-Dalmatia
population	15
population_as_of	2011
density_km2	17.2
::

History

A Benedictine monastery was founded on Biševo in 1050 by Ivan Grlić from Split, but it was deserted two centuries later because of the danger of pirates. The church of Saint Sylvester is preserved near the ruins of the monastery.

There was a school on the island, built in 1947 and closed in 1961. Electricity was introduced in the 1970s.

Geography

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Map_of_Biševo_2020-10-05.png" caption="[[Topography]] of Biševo island"] ::

Biševo is composed of limestone. The highest point is Stražbenica, 239 m high, accessible by a 45-minute walk along the footpath. In the center of the island there is a fertile field; the northern part of the island is covered with pine forests and the rest with maquis shrubland or bare rocks. The coastal sea belt is a rich fishing area. The main industries are viticulture and fishing.

Caves

Monk Seal Cave

Also known as Medvedina, the cave is lies on the south-east side of the island and has been protected since 1967. The name of the cave originates commemorates the Mediterranean monk seals, now an endangered species, which used to populated it. It is special geomorphologically because the entrance into the Monk Seal Cave is quite big and wide, it narrows completely towards the interior. The length of the cave is 160 m and it ends with a small beach that only small vessels, such as speedboats, can reach. This cave is difficult to spot when cruising away from the shore, due to the unusually narrow, almost vertical, 30 m high opening in the stone gorge. The interior of the cave consists of a main, spacious hall and a low winding canal which, after about 70 m, ends with a small beach. It is a well-known Dalmatian islands tourist attraction.

Blue Cave

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Boat_trip_inside_the_Blue_Cave_on_Bisevo_island,Croatia(48693793831).jpg" caption="Blue cave"] ::

On the steep shores there are many caves, the most famous being Blue Cave, which was carved in the limestone by the sea. It is located on the eastern side of the island and is one of the most important attractions of the Adriatic. It was well-known to local fishermen, who in 1884 showed it to the Austrian artist, explorer, and speleologist Eugen von Ransonnet-Villez, who published an article in the Viennese daily Neue Freie Presse declaring that its beauty surpassed even that of Capri's famed Blue Grotto. From that time on, it became a major tourist attraction.

The approach to the cave is only possible by boat. It is 18 m long, 6 m deep, and 6 m high. The entrance to the cave is only 1.5 m high and 2.5 m wide. During the summer between 10 am and 1 pm, sunbeams penetrate the submarine opening in Blue Cave and are reflected from the white floor, colouring the cave blue and objects in the water silver.

Birds

Biševo, along with Vis, Sveti Andrija and its neighbouring islet of Kamnik, Brusnik, Jabuka and the Palagruža archipelago, forms part of the Croatian Offshore Islands Important Bird Area (IBA). This was designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant breeding populations of Scopoli's and Yelkouan shearwaters, as well as of Eleonora's falcons. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Panoramic_view_of_Bisevo_island_next_to_Vis_island_in_Croatia_(48608613336).jpg" caption="Vis]] in the back"] ::

Gallery

File:Blue-Shark-Boat-Tours-&-Transfers-MONK-SEAL-Cave-Bisevo-4-min.jpg|The Monk Seal Cave by Bisevo island seen from boat File:Porat beach on Bisevo island, Croatia, a view from above (48693984742).jpg|Porat beach File:Stijena Točac, obala Biševa.jpg|Islet Točac File:Island of Biševo (Croatia).JPG|Houses on island File:Entrance of the Blue Cave on Bisevo island in Croatia (48693937372).jpg|Entrance to Blue cave

References

Bibliography

References

{{in lang
{{Croatian Census 2011. S. 17. 1970
"Biševo on croatiatouristcenter.com".
(13 July 2019). "ŽIVOT NA NAJUDALJENIJEM NASELJENOM OTOKU: "Ovdje nema ni dućana ni benziske pumpe ni doktora - samo mir!"". [[Jutarnji list]].
{{GE-YLZ. 1. Biševo
[http://www.dalmacija.net/komiza/bisevo.htm Biševo at dalmacija.net]
{{in lang. hr [http://nautic-apartments.com/hrv/bisevo.htm Biševo on nautic-apartments.com] {{webarchive. link. (January 21, 2007)
. (2024). ["Offshore Islands"](https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/offshore-islands-iba-croatia). *BirdLife International*.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::