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Cathedral of St. Jakov in Šibenik is a significant architectural achievement of the 15th and 16th centuries on Croatian soil. Because of its exceptional values, the cathedral was included in the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage in 2000.
The construction of the new cathedral
was symbolically the culmination of the city's centuries-long
aspiration to separate from the Trogir diocese and to gain communal
autonomy in addition to its own church. It was built on the south
side of the central old town square, on the site of the Romanesque
church of St. Jacob.
The idea of building a large cathedral
dates back to 1298, when Šibenik received its own diocese and the
title of city. The decision on the construction and the beginning of
the preparatory works was made in 1402. Construction, however, began
only in 1431 and lasted intermittently until 1536. For the first
decade, Venetian Gothic builders and Šibenik stonemasons Andrija
Budčić and Budiša Statčić worked on its construction. During this
time, the southern and northern walls, the lower, Gothic part of the
façade and both portals of the church were built. Juraj Dalmatinac,
Radivoj Bogosalić, Radonja Grubačević and Nikola Marković worked at
the cathedral.
During the founding of the diocese in 1298,
the existing church of St. St. James in the main town square was
promoted to a cathedral, but as it was small and inappropriate it
was decided on the same occasion that the bishop and the city
provide funds for the construction of a new cathedral. At the end of
the 14th century, after the Venetian invasion, the old cathedral of
St. Jakov damaged, it was decided to build a new one and in 1402,
with the efforts of Bishop Bogdan Pulšić, a fund for its
construction was established. Due to unfavorable political
circumstances, and then various other misfortunes that befell
Šibenik (plagues and fires), the construction of the new cathedral
began only three decades later with the laying of the foundation
stone in 1431. The cathedral was completed in 1536, and in 1555 it
was consecrated by Bishop Ivan Lucije Štafilić. After a thorough
renovation in the 19th century, the cathedral was rededicated in
1860.
Developmental stages and stylistic features
The creation of the cathedral includes three different stylistic and developmental phases, the first of which is named after Bishop Bogan Pulšić (1402-1437) who began its construction, while the remaining two are named after two of the most important architects who defined its current character - Juraj Matijev. Dalmatian and Nikola Ivanov Florentine. During the century-long period of construction, the cathedral was created by successive changes of three different architectural conceptions, changing three different styles: the first Gothic, the second mixed Gothic-Renaissance and the third Renaissance.
The first period of construction (1431 - 1441), the so-called "Pulšić Cathedral"
It begins in 1428 with the decision of the city council that a new cathedral should be erected in a more convenient place in the northern part of the city. Bonino da Milano as the "primus magister ecclesie Sancti Jacobi" (1428-1429) made the first project of the cathedral to be erected on the site of the church of St. Trinity (today St. John), but due to his death he managed to only partially complete some sculptural parts of the main portal (today they are located on the existing two portals of the cathedral. Giacomoiz of Venice (1430-1431) modified his project and adapted it for construction on the existing site where the old cathedral was still located.By laying the foundations on the northwest corner of the façade (April 9, 1431), construction began on a new cathedral. expired one-year contract, come Antonio di Pierpaolo Busato and Lorenzo Pincino, Venetian masters who work on the cathedral for the next ten years.Due to difficulties in laying the foundations and the realization of the sanctuary extended across the street, construction stopped in the early 1940s In 1441 he concluded a contract with Juraj Matejev from Zadar pro prohtomagistro fabrice E cclesiae Cathedralis.
The second period of construction (1441-1473), the so-called "St. George's Cathedral"
It takes place in two separate stages, among which is a longer, five-year period of interruption. In the initial phase of work on the cathedral (1441-1455), Juraj Dalmatinac (Georgius Mathei Dalmaticus) is a new three-passive sanctuary that still includes a baptistery built into the foundations of the southern apse (1443-44), and an adjoining sacristy with a treasury on the first floor ( 1450-54). At the same time, the longitudinal walls of the church were completed to the height of the hanging arches, while in the interior, according to the new project of master George, together with the vaulted chapels of the side naves, the arcades of the main nave were raised to the same height. At the time of the cessation of works in 1455, high substructures of the polygonal sanctuary were built up to the level of the wreath with heads, ie to the level of the floor of the presbytery in the interior. The initial phase of construction of the cathedral is marked by spatial-functional adaptation and modernization of the previous project, and a series of inventive, primarily architectural and decorative solutions used in the construction of the sanctuary ("assembly technique" of building large stone blocks and wreaths of individualized life-size heads).
In the second phase of work on the cathedral (1461-1473), the works were concentrated only on the erection of the polygonal walls of the sanctuary, whereby two consecutive stages can be distinguished. The first stage (1461-1465) is marked by the appearance of a new, early Renaissance decorative repertoire of a predominantly painterly character originating from painters from the circle of F. Squarcione and the Donatella workshop in Padua. they play and dance, the so-called "Malipier's party"). The second stage appears after George's stay in Dubrovnik (1465-1473), and is marked by the appearance of structurally more mature compositions and stylistically cleaner motifs of Tuscan origin (windows of the main apse) created under the influence of Florentine masters from the circle of Michelloz di Bartolomeo employed in Dubrovnik before George's arrival. In the final period of work on the cathedral, Juraj Dalmatinac placed a relief of St. John the Baptist on the north wall of the sanctuary chapel, under the archivolt with the coat of arms of Prince S. Malipier (1465-68). Jerome of the desert. Juraj Dalmatinac died on October 10, 1473.
The third period of construction (1475-1536), the so-called "Nikolina Cathedral"
It begins with the appointment of Nicolas Ivanov of Florence
(Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino) as the new protomaster (1475). The
Florentine finds the cathedral completed to the height of the
perimeter walls of the sanctuary and the walls of the side naves,
but mutually inconsistent and unconnected, and with numerous
irregularities in the layout of the entire choir (thinned and broken
walls of the sanctuary and transept in the interior). By 1477,
Nikola Firentinac was preparing a project to complete the entire
upper part of the cathedral and began to renovate the side chapels
of the sanctuary. Changing the earlier conception of a three-nave
open-roofed basilica into a barrel-vaulted church, Nikola first
levels the sanctuary and the three-nave corpus of the church, and
then, with a strong, all 'antique wreath, clearly separates the
previously built parts from its new upper part.
By adapting
George's "assembly technique" of construction, Nikola Firentinac
erected short barrel vaults over the side chapels of the sanctuary,
composed of long stone slabs stacked (completed by 1479). Preparing
a proper and solid building substructure for the equally conceived
large vaults of the church, Nikola straightens and strengthens the
walls of the choir, and very quickly (until 1483) raises them to the
level of the vault. In doing so, it applies complex engineering
solutions - hidden in the thickness of the wall metal clamps, and
cantilevered "flat arch" (piattabanda). Barrel vaults and a cross
with an octagonal tambour-lantern and a dome were built until 1499.
That year, Nikola stopped performing the duty of protomaster and,
under his own direction, signed a contract for the production of
stone furniture in the sanctuary. In addition to the dome, at the
time of his death (1506/1507), two more barrel vaults were erected
above the main nave, and in the plane with them, the square-vaulted
vaults above the side naves. Although the cathedral was built for
another three decades after his death, it was completely completed
according to his project. After Nicholas of Florence, two other
architects held the position of protomaster - Bartolomeo of Mestre
(from 1520), and then his son Jacob. By the time the construction
work was completed, they had vaulted the remaining four aisles of
the main and side naves, and erected the upper "three-leafed" part
of the west façade.
Renovations and restorations
Since the 16th century, the cathedral has undergone numerous minor repairs, primarily due to water leaks. In the second half of the 19th century, with the efforts of the Šibenik architect Paolo Bioni and with the support of the Austrian government, a thorough and comprehensive restoration was carried out (1843-1860). After the Second World War, the sacristy was completely restored (1947-49), and the static restoration of the cathedral was carried out by changing the iron trusses (1961). Three grenades fired from a former JNA ship on September 18, 1991, pierced the cathedral's dome. Dome damage was repaired from August 23, 1996 to March 14, 1997, and the maintenance (cleaning) and monitoring program continues.
Plan and massing
The church measures about 38–38.5 m in length and
14 m in width. It is a basilica of three aisles, each terminating in an
apse, with a non-projecting (non-salient) transept. An octagonal drum
and stone dome rise over the crossing; the interior height under the
dome is about 32 m, the external crown about 38 m. A raised rectangular
sacristy stands on pillars between the south apse and the episcopal
palace; a passage beneath it leads to the baptistery set into the
foundations of the south apse.
Twelve Gothic columns with foliate
capitals divide the nave from the aisles. Above them run galleries whose
openings alternate short fluted pilasters and columns. The nave is
covered by a semicircular stone barrel vault; the aisles have
quarter-circle vaults. Both vaults are visible from outside as well as
inside, giving the roof its characteristic rounded silhouette.
Construction phases and architects
Work began in 1431 on the site of
an earlier Romanesque church. Three successive masters shaped the
building.
First phase (1431–1441). Venetian masters under Francesco
di Giacomo, with Lorenzo Pincino, Pier Paolo Bussato, Bonino da Milano,
and local stonemasons, laid out the basic three-aisled plan, raised the
side walls to the first cornice, and built the two principal portals.
Second phase (1441–1473/75). Juraj Dalmatinac (Giorgio da Sebenico /
Georgius Mathei Dalmaticus), a Zadar-born sculptor-architect trained in
Venice, transformed the project. He added the three apses, the
baptistery, the sacristy, the famous exterior frieze of heads, and much
of the sculptural program. He invented the interlocking-slab technique
used for the apse walls and later extended to the vaults. His style
mixes late Gothic structure with early Renaissance figuration and
humanist portraiture.
Third phase (1475–1505, finished 1536). Niccolò
di Giovanni Fiorentino (Nikola Firentinac), a Tuscan sculptor from the
circle of Donatello, completed the galleries, the nave and aisle vaults,
the octagonal drum, the dome, the upper west façade, and the exterior
statues of St. Michael, St. James, and St. Mark. He kept Dalmatinac’s
stone-assembly system while giving the upper parts a clearer Tuscan
Renaissance character. The rose window of the west front was added
later, around 1555.
The stone-assembly system
Dalmatinac
treated large stone slabs like timber boards. Edges were cut to fit into
longitudinal grooves cut in the sides of piers and ribs. Horizontal
joints overlap; vertical joints are dry-fitted. On the dome the slabs
are held by stone wedges driven into the ribs like a portcullis. The
resulting vaults and dome are self-supporting through mutual compression
rather than through voussoir arches or mortar. The technique was never
repeated at this scale in European architecture before the industrial
age.
The dome sits on an octagonal drum that converts the square
crossing into a circle—an early use of that transition, preceding
Bramante and Michelangelo in this particular structural role. Radial
stone ribs receive the slab ends; the whole behaves as a
three-dimensional shell rather than a simple ribbed vault.
Exterior
The west front is a distinctive trefoil gable: a tall
central semicircle flanked by quarter-circles. A large rose window
occupies the middle field; the main portal below is richly moulded. The
north side contains the Lion Portal (Porta dei Leoni), begun by Bonino
da Milano and completed under Dalmatinac. Two lions support octagonal
columns that carry the figures of Adam and Eve, shown in a state of
embarrassed nakedness. An eagle (symbol of St. John) appears above the
main entrance; other motifs draw on Trogir Cathedral, San Marco in
Venice, and even Hagia Sophia.
The three apses and part of the north
wall carry the celebrated frieze of 71 (sometimes counted as 72–74)
life-size human heads—men, women, and children, clergy and
laypeople—plus lion heads at the corners. About forty heads are by
Dalmatinac himself; the rest by his workshop. They are individual
portraits of contemporary Šibenik citizens rather than generic types, an
early Renaissance humanist statement placed on a sacred building.
Interior and baptistery
The interior is striking for the height
of the nave and the consistency of carved stone. Gothic columns and
leaf-work fillets belong to the earlier phases; Renaissance galleries
and vaulting belong to Fiorentino. Because the same stone is used from
pavement to vault, the space reads as a single carved volume.
The
baptistery, Dalmatinac’s masterpiece of 1443–44, occupies a small
quatrefoil chamber beneath the south apse. A lightly curved vault is
divided into four fields and densely carved with angels, cherub heads,
and the head of God the Father. Prophets stand in canopies on foliate
capitals. The baptismal font is supported by three angels. Gothic
ornament and Renaissance figure style are fused into one of the first
mixed-style interiors on the Adriatic.
Other notable works include
Bishop Šižgorić’s tomb (Dalmatinac), a 15th-century Gothic crucifix by
Juraj Petrović, and later altar paintings.
Significance
The
cathedral is unique in several respects at once: it is built wholly of
stone without binding mortar or wooden roof structure; its interior and
exterior forms coincide; its vaults and dome employ an original
interlocking-slab system; its west front is a rare Renaissance trefoil;
and its apse frieze is the largest high-quality public portrait gallery
of secular figures on a church in Europe. It records the passage from
Venetian Gothic to Tuscan Renaissance within a single coherent structure
and remains the finest architectural monument of the Croatian
Renaissance.