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VELA LUKA (4.464 inhabitants) is today the biggest town on the island Korcula. It is situated in a deep bay at the very western end, 47 km from the town of Korcula.
Vela Luka is at the same time both the oldest and the youngest settlement on the island. Vela Spilja (Big Cave) - the most significant evidence of prehistoric Korcula - is on the hill Spilinski rat, northwest from the town itself, and 100 meters above sea level. A rich Neolithic culture of Hvar circle (3200 years B.C.), this branch was communicating by sea with its neighbors of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. An important collection of finds is exhibited in the Ethnographic Museum in the palace of Franulovic-Repak near the parish church.
There are also articles from the Hellenic and early middle Ages in the region of Vela Luka. Later on, human in this area life became scarce due to the danger of living in an unprotected environment near the sea. The bay was used as e harbor and trading pot for Blato where is sanctuary of St Marija Petkovic. A new political situation and the subsequent ending of fear from pirate attack brought a quick renewal of life in this bay.
After the arrival of its first modern inhabitants in 1795, Vela Luka has rapidly become the biggest Korcula settlement. The local people work mostly in the shipyard that constructs plastic boats, then in the fishing boats and the sardine factory. There is also work in hotels and smaller industries but chiefly they cultivate their olive groves.
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