Pučišća (Croatian pronunciation: [pûtʃiːʃt͡ɕa]) is a coastal town and a municipality on the island of Brač in Croatia.

Jadrankamen, the largest stone quarry company in Europe, is located here, as is Croatia's only stonemason school.

The local folk etymology explains that Pučišća used to be called Spuzišća (from the Croatian word spustiti or spuziti, to climb or to slide down), remembering their move here from the uphill and inland settlements of Pražnica and Straževnik in the 15th century.

[8] Pučišća lies at the end of a deep natural bay on the northern coast of Brač, which in the summer months gives its harbour protection from the winds of the open sea.

The bay splits in two arms, Stipanska luka ('Stephen's harbour') to the east and Pučinski dolac ('Pučišća's valley') to the west.

Pirate attacks forced the population to move further inland though: Pražnica was likely founded by the people of Pučinski dolac, and the now abandoned Straževnik (on the way to Gornji Humac) from Stipanska luka.

After centuries of pirate attacks, the new found peace allowed a number of families to settle and build their new permanent homes at the coast, and the name Pučišća became established.

[13] Settlers from interior of Brač, particularly from Straževnik and Pražnice, moved to Pučišća, as well as refugees from the mainland, particularly after the fall of Bosnia.

But this time, instead of giving up Pučišća, in 1467 Ciprijan Žuvetić built the first kaštel (a small, fortified tower) in the young town to counter possible Turkish attacks.

[14] Eventually, thirteen kaštela dotted the coastline: following Žuvetić was Ante Akvila, then Prodić, Mladinić, Pinešić, Andrijević-Ivelić, Davidović, Čipičić, Bokanić, Radojković, Grego, Cicarelli, Katković, and Bilavić.

The major historians of the island come from Pučišća: Vicko Prodić (1628-1666), Petar Dominis (1654-1728), Trifun Mladinić (1680-1708), and Andrija Ciccarelli (1759-1823).

Pučišća's history followed the history of Dalmatia: the Venetian rule ended in 1797 after almost four centuries, and in the next two decades, Brač repeatedly changed hands between France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, and was even conquered by Montenegrin forces with Russian support for a short time.

In 1823 Austria-Hungary designated Pučišća to be the administrative center of the eastern part of the island, which it remained until 1885 when Selca was split off.

Since then, particularly due to heavy emigration, most prominently to Chile and the United States, the town has lost more than a third of its population.

The chapel of the lady of Batak, locally also known as the church of Saint Cyprian, was consecrated in 1533, Croatian Gospe od Batka or Sveti Ciprijan.

Above the entrance is an inscription dedicated to the main donor Ciprijan Žuvetić and the bishop of Šibenik Ivan Lucić who consecrated the church.

The town has plenty of stone monuments, some centuries old, and some created only recently by the students of the stonemason school.

The following objects are designated as protected cultural goods:[20] Stone has traditionally been one of the main sources of income of Pučišća.

The deepest explored cave of the island, jama kod Matešić stana (HR2001200), lies also in the area of Pučišća.

The municipality as a whole has a population of 1,934 (2021 census), of which 98,62% are Croats and 95.30% Catholic (2011 census).Some Croatian historians claim that John Owen Dominis, who became prince consort to the last queen of Hawaii, traces his family back to the Dominis (Gospodetnić) family in Pučišća.