Church of St Justine

Why it is worth your time

The Church of St Justine is a small church with a large story: a Renaissance single-nave building by the square of the same name, recognisable by an onion-domed bell tower of a kind rarely seen on the Adriatic, today home of the Museum of Sacred Art. In the collection lies Rab's greatest treasure: the reliquary with the head of St Christopher, the town's protector, credited by legend with saving Rab from siege, alongside polyptychs, silverware, vestments and stone fragments that together tell a thousand years of island piety. The museum is small and therefore pleasant: half an hour suffices for everything, and the cool half-dark is balm in summer.

The square before the church is among the town's loveliest frames, with a view escaping to the sea between bell tower and crowns; here one pauses with an ice cream before walking on. Opening hours follow the season and are modest outside summer, so check the schedule on the door. St Christopher is celebrated grandly: if you strike the protector's feast, you will see the reliquary in procession and the town in its most festive edition.