Kotišina Botanical Garden – A monument of landscape architecture

The Garden is located on the southern slopes of Biokovo, above the village of Kotišina, at an altitude of 350 – 500 meters. It is an integral part of the Nature Park Biokovo. The Garden was founded by the prominent local Franciscan friar and scientist Jure Radić (1920-1990), who wanted to conduct scientific research and observation as well as to protect, preserve and popularize Biokovo's yet undiscovered flora. This is not a botanical garden in the classical sense of the word, in which each plant is introduced according to certain rules. This garden was envisioned as an "enclosed part of nature," where natural forms of vegetation, along with native flora, would be preserved. A relatively small surface of 16.5 ha contains very diverse habitats such as rock gardens, screes, precipitous rocks, arable land and the Proslap canyon with a waterfall of the same name, dry for most of the year and appearing only after a strong rainfall.  

Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas covering Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats. It is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world, extending across all 28 EU countries, both on land and at sea. The sites within Natura 2000 are designated under the Birds and the Habitats Directives.

A significant landscape is a natural or cultivated area of ​​great landscape value and biodiversity and / or geodiversity or a landscape of preserved unique features characteristic of a particular area. In a significant landscape, interventions and activities that do not violate the characteristics for which it was proclaimed are allowed.

PROLOŽAC LAKE (Significant landscape)

Prološko Blato (Mud) is situated in the western part of Imotsko Polje, representing a flooding karst field subject to seasonal inundation. Prološko Lake is located in the eastern part of the Prološko Blato and it never dries up. Prološko Blato is protected as a significant landscape in 1971, and sports and recreational fishing was developed. In the wider area, there is a significant archaeological site, the remains of a former Franciscan hermitage on the islet of the Monastery. It was built during Turkish rule, and from 1600 to 1715, the Imotski Franciscans lived in it after which it was abandoned and destroyed. Today, during high waters periods, the Monastery is an island and it probably functioned in that capacity as adefense against the Turks. The remains of the monastery are on the western slope of the island, with stonewalls and stone benches preserved along the way to the mud/lake. The remains of a Franciscan hermitage on the Isle of Monastery in the Prološko Blato are an extremely valuable part of the cultural heritage of Imotski. In addition, the hermitage is testimony that the level of the lake in the Prološko Blato area has never been high enough to flood the islet of Monastery.

IMOTSKI LAKES-GAJ (Significant landscape)

The city of Imotski, its lakes and the nature surrounding them are an exceptional combination of natural and historical heritage. The Red and the Blue Lake are among the most beautiful natural wanders. The deep lakes carved into stone formed gradually as karst slowly dissolved over the millennium. Imotski and its surroundings used to be covered by Downey Oak (Quercus pubescens) and Oriental Hornbeam (Carpinus orientalls) forests. The long-term human impact almost caused the forests to completely vanish. Due to international reforestation during the 20^th century “The Barren Karst” as well as the “Gaj” city park are now covered by a Black Pine forest. A tree nursery and arranged pathways gave Imotski another significant urban characteristic.

VRLJIKA RIVER (Special reserve)

A unique karst river that flows for 23 km along Imotski field is rich and fertile connecting and nourishing people and sttlements of Imotski. It is also a habitat of endemic species: Salmothymus obtusirostris, Austropotamobius pallipes, Dhelminichthys Adspersus.

THE RED LAKE (Monument of nature)

This hydro-morphological phenomenon is situated 1.5 km northwest from Imotski. This fissure in red stones is more than 500 m deep and partly filled with water. The lake owes its name to the reflection of the red rocks surrounding it. Experts consider it to be one of the deepest water fissure in Europe. It was protected as a Monument of nature in 1971. A research project in 1998 revealed that the lake bottom is at 6 m below sea level, which qualifies it as depression.

THE BLUE LAKE (Monument of nature)

Blue Lake is elliptical in shape and between 300 to 500 m deep. The water level in the lake varies annually and can reach up to 100 m.  The lake is a funnel-shaped crater sitting at the edge of the old town of Imotski. Blue Lake is a great for swimming and a popular summer gathering spot for many people of Imotski, but also a frequent choice of many visitors. The lake can be accessed by walking down a serpentine built in the early 20^th century in a technique of dry stone walls.

BIOKOVO (Nature park)

Biokovo is the highest mountain range in the coastal area of the Republic of Croatia. Biokovo's highest point, the St. George peak, is at an altitude of 1,762 meters above sea level. The unique geomorphology, exceptional biodiversity and mesmerizing beauty of the landscape have earned the Biokovo mountain range the status of a protected nature park. It is a part of the largest karst area in Europe – the Dinaric Alps, which is a globally known locus typicus of the specific karst morphology which creates the climatic and physical barrier between the coast and the hinterland, where the Lakes of Imotski are located.