The Unique Lace of Agava Fibers

Sa？etak The Benedictine nunnery and the church of St. John the Baptist and St. Anthony the Abbot are situated below the fortress, within the town walls in the heart of Groda, the oldest part of the town. The convent edifice was compiled partly from the poet Hanibal Luci？ house, donated to nuns by Julia, the poet's daughter-in-law. In 2014 the nunnery celebrated its 350th anniversary. The church and the nunnery harbor art items dating from the 16th to the 19thc. But it mostly gained fame through the lace made out of the agava fibers. For 150 years the Benedictine nuns have been creating those lace works. Strong, shiny white threads are obtained by a painstaking process from the thick pulp of the subtropics agava plant (Agave Americana). The producing process is being performed by nuns themselves as they treat the leaves of this tough plant which fades after blooming only once in one hundred years. The fibers being but 30 cm up to utmost 1 m long, are tied to each other by special knots that must not be visible in the lace itself. The lace is being created in three various techniques: tenerifa, tenerifa with riffling and tenerifa with rippling in the frame, and are accomplished by embroidery and sewing on a small sewing pin in various stitches. Therefore agava lace is considered ？sewn lace “. Working on it they most frequently start from the central star (tenerife), wherefrom the net is being created and various motives and shapes are created upon it with no sample to follow, but as a result of the ad hoc inspiration and artistic sensibility of the lace maker. That is the reason why each lace piece of work is unique, without repetitions or doubles. On account of ？tenerife“ term, the legend about it being brought from Tenerife came to life, but there is not a trace of historic evidence to confirm the legend. Hvar agava fibers lace is on the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, just like Pag and Me？imurje lace is, for being an authentic product of the City Hvar, developed and preserved thanks to the Benedictine nuns. The lace was exhibited at many international and home exhibitions, and has always won special awards. In the past and nowadays it is made a precious gift to popes, distinguished politicians, bishops, people of honor, as a precious souvenir from Hvar. The lace is laid in a frame, like a painting. It is neither wash, nor iron and it can last for over one hundred years. There are rare preserved examples from old times in the nunnery, as it was done with other handiwork in the nunnery school for girls. One can also find other