The Church of St. Krševan from the 12th century is located in the
old town of Šibenik on the right side in Don Krste Stošić Street. It
is the oldest preserved sacral building in Šibenik, originally built
in the Romanesque style. In the same street is the Dominican
monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary.
History
It was first
mentioned in 1124, at a time when refugees from Biograd, destroyed
by the Venetian Republic, found refuge in it. In 1200, the church is
still outside the city walls, within which it will be located with
the expansion of medieval Šibenik in the 14th century. Although it
has been upgraded several times, the original Romanesque style is
still visible in the design of its semicircular apse. In the 15th
century, the church of Sv. Krševana has undergone major changes that
bear the hallmarks of the Gothic style. Then, on the west side of
the church, a staircase was built, the work of the Venetian master
Antonio Bussat, who also worked at the Šibenik Cathedral, but was
removed in the middle of the 19th century. However, to this day, the
church has a visible lintel with the recorded year of construction
of the staircase - 1439 and a relief carved on it with two members
of the fraternity kneeling at the feet of the Mother of God. The
church served as a pilgrimage until World War II during which it
suffered considerable damage. The people of Šibenik knew her as St.
Antu (hermit). After the war, it was renovated and became an
exhibition space of the city museum, while today it houses an art
gallery. Outside the church, next to its southern wall, there is the
oldest bell in Croatia, from 1266, which was found on the seabed
near Silba by sponge divers from the island of Krapanj.