| LOCALITIES AND MONUMENTS ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST
THE ŠIBENIK CATHEDRAL
 The Cathedral of St. Jakov (St. Jacob) in Šibenik is a triple nave basilica with three apses and a cupola (height of interior is 32 m). The cathedral construction began in the Venetian Gothic style, and was completed in the Toscano Renaissance style. It was consecrated in 1555. The construction began in 1431 at the place where a small cathedral had earlier stood, and as such, the cathedral was built using much of the material of the former church. In the first phase of construction, the Italian masters Francesco di Giacomo, Lorenzo Pincino and Pier Paolo Bussato participated, together with the domestic master stonecutters Andrija Budčić and Grubiš Šlafčić (longitudinal walls and both portals).
In 1444, Juraj (Matejev) Dalmatinac took over the construction. Under his leadership, both side naves, the sanctuary, the apse ornamented with a wreath of 74 heads (considered to be a portrait of the eminent citizens of Šibenik) and the sacristy were erected. Nikola Firentinac continued the construction (with the completion of the side naves, the cupola and the project of the stone ceiling vaults). Following Firentinac’s death in 1505, the Cathedral was finally completed by Bartolomeo and Giacomo de Mestre. The Šibenik Cathedral has no masonry elements, and the walls, vaults and cupola are constructed in a simple manner (first used by Juraj Dalmatinac) where the entire unit of precisely cut stones are fit together, a method used in the masonry craft. The gable of the main façade was built in the form of a trefoil, as one of the oldest in Europe and naturally continued as part of the triple nave structure of the church, in harmony with the shape and size of the arcs. Within the Cathedral, several altars are present in the naves, with two rows of galleries about the side naves.
The cross on the altar of the Holy Cross, dating back to 1455, was made by Juraj Petrović. On the altar of the Holy Three Kings, there are two marble reliefs depicting angels, the work of Nikola Firentinac and the painter Bernardin Ricci. The statue of the prophet is the work of Pavao Gospodnetić and was made in 1594. The carved pulpit is the work of Jerolim Mondel (1624). On the altar of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian is a painting of Filip Zaninbertia. The main altar, the Mother of Tears, dates back to 1630. The Šibenik Cathedral was listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Monuments in 2000. |
