The Krk Cathedral or fully Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary ( Croatian: ''Katedrala uznesenja blažene Djevice Marije'' or ''Krčka katedrala'') is a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

in the town of

Krk Krk (; ; ; ; archaic German: ''Vegl'', ; ) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Krk is tied with Cres as the largest Adriatic island, depending o ...

on the northern

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

island of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. It is the seat of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Krk The Diocese of Krk (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church active on the Croatian islands of Krk, Rab, Cres and Lošinj, as well as a few smaller ones and also a mission serving the Croatian people of ...

. The church was built in the 5th or 6th century but archeological evidence suggests that the site was used by Christians as early as 4th century. The cathedral is located beneath the Krk town hill. The first documented mention of the church dates from 1186. It is a three-nave

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

which is part of a larger complex, along with the Romanesque Church of Saint Quirinus (12th century), a bell tower (16th century), the Chapel of Saint Barbara, an early Christian

baptistry In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptist ...

and an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. As common with other churches from the same period, it is oriented east/west, with its

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

facing a street which goes through the town of Krk in the north–south direction. The church is 40 meters long and interior width is . During several archeological excavations between 1956 and 1963 led by

Andro Mohorovičić Andro may refer to: *Andro (name) * ''Andro'' (album), a 2020 album by Tommy Lee *Andro, Imphal East, a town in Manipur, India *A slang word for anabolic steroids *Androstenedione, a steroid, often called ''andro'' or ''andros'' for short * An Dro ...

the ruins of an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

dating from 1st century were discovered. Remains of a

hypocaust A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...

and a

tepidarium The ''tepidarium'' was the warm (''tepidus'') bathroom of the thermae, Roman baths heated by a hypocaust or underfloor heating system. The speciality of a ''tepidarium'' is the pleasant feeling of constant radiant heat, which directly affects the ...

with a preserved

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

floor tiling were uncovered. Large mosaic pieces worn out of people walking over them were found, which suggest that the site may have been used for Christian masses as early as the 4th century, before the cathedral was built. According to historical records right next to the former tepidarium a Chapel of

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

with a baptismal font was later built, which stood there until 1565. This implies that one of the pools of the thermae has been converted into a baptistry. Beneath the floor of the present-day Chapel of the Holy Heart of Jesus a barrel-like

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

for baptismal water was also found. The cathedral's present-day Romanesque design was created in the 11th and 12th century, around at the same time when its existence was first documented in 1186. Above the fourth interior

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

(when counting from the south side entrance) there is an inscription dedicating the church to

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, as it marks the place where the early Christian basilica used to end. This was confirmed by excavations in which foundations of the wall which closed the original basilica were found. Out of the two present-day rows of columns, the seven columns closer to the altar were originally within the old basilica. These columns were built out of stone and are not connected to capitels. Out of the total 14 columns, 12 of them feature Corinthian capitels, one is Classical and the one in the northern row closest to the altar features relief depictions of early Christian

eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

symbols, showing a fish being eaten by two birds (the fish is an early Christian symbol for Christ while the birds represent Christians; therefore the image represent eucharist in which believers "feed" on Christ). Based on this and the ground plan of the basilica, Mohorović dated the time its construction to the latter half of the 5th century or some time in the early 6th century. Over the course of centuries several chapels with altars were added next to the side walls of the church. Around 1450 John VII Frankopan had ordered construction of the Chapel of Saint Barbara, which has

House of Frankopan The House of Frankopan (, , , ) was a Croatian noble family, whose members were among the great landowner magnates and high officers of the Kingdom of Croatia in union with Hungary. The Frankopans, along with the Zrinskis, are among the most ...

coats of arms on its ceiling. In 1500 two

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style ambons were built, in 1538 the apse was extended, and then again in 1700 when the space for an

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

and a choir was added. The

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

is equipped with walnut wood furniture; a cupboard which covers the sacristy wall was made between 1697 and 1698, the 13 benches for

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

were made in 1699 and a

bishop's throne A ''cathedra'' is the throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principal c ...

was added in 1717. In addition to the cathedral the complex contains the Church of Saint Quirinus, the only early Christian two-story church in Croatia. The Romanesque-style church was built in front of the cathedral, out of locally mined white stone. Because of lack of space its apses face southwards and it features three semicircular apses with romanesque arcades on top. There is also the Church of Saint Margaret, dedicated to

Margaret of Antioch Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr () in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in Western Christianity, on 30th of July (Julian calendar) by the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on Epip ...

, and a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

. As early Christian churches did not have bell towers, a wooden tower was added behind the sacristy at a later date. Since there was very little building space left by then, it was constructed right in front of the Church of Saint Quirinus in 1515. In 1765 it underwent a thorough restoration, and the upper part was redesigned. As part of the restoration a sculpture of an angel made in Venice was installed on top. Since then the bell tower was renovated several times, last time in 1973 when the present-day plastic angel replaced the original copper-coated wooden sculpture.

Bibliography

* *

External links

Krk Cathedral
at the Town of Krk official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Krk Cathedral 6th-century churches Basilica churches in Croatia Buildings and structures in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Roman Catholic cathedrals in Croatia