“When something from our imagination becomes reality, it seems ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ to us afterwards that it happened exactly as it did. However, countless examples throughout history prove that conservative and spiritually narrow-minded environments rejected creative projects – in any field – if they were extremely new and unconventional. The construction of St. James Cathedral by the people of Šibenik tested and confirmed the Latin proverb: ‘Audaces Fortuna Iuvat’ (Fortune favors the bold).
Radovan Ivančević, Šibenik Cathedral.
Šibenik Cathedral, also known as “Šibenik Cathedral,” has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001.
The name Šibenik was mentioned for the first time in 1066 in a document by the Croatian king Petar Krešimir IV (1058 – 1074). It is the only major coastal city in Croatia that was not founded in ancient times, but almost a millennium later.
The 13th century was pivotal in the history of Šibenik, as it was during this time that battles were fought on all fronts.” rba in order for Šibenik to gain the status of a civitas (city), thereby achieving complete independence and freedom that neighboring cities already had. They achieved a partial victory on November 24, 1251 when King Bela IV confirmed the charter granting full autonomy to Šibenik, but to attain the complete status of a civitas, they also needed to obtain ecclesiastical autonomy. It was only through the papal bull of Pope Boniface VIII on May 1, 1298 that Šibenik gained the right to establish a bishopric and thus attain city status.
From Idea to Foundation Stone
This was followed by a century of intense development of the free Šibenik civic community and the bishopric, which culminated in the early 15th century with the idea of building a new cathedral. The existing church of St. Jacob (which had been used as the cathedral until then) had become too small and unsuitable, so on the initiative of Bishop Bogdan Pulšić, a special committee of citizens decided on April 10, 1402 to build a new cathedral “for the purpose of enlarging, growing, and expanding”. “Broader, taller and bigger.”
It will take thirty years from the initial idea for construction to the beginning of its realization. Namely, just as the city officials found ways of financing and started preparing the materials, a conflict with the Venetians broke out, so the people of Sibenik used a part of the construction stone, prepared for the cathedral, for the fortifications. The conflict lasted from 1409 to 1412, but it took another ten years for the situation to stabilize, so in 1424, they started preparing the stone for the construction of the cathedral again.
Finally, in May 1430, Bishop Bogdan Pulšić and two noblemen from the Tavelić family made a one-year contract with Venetian master Francesco di Giacomo (Fran Jakovljevim) to lead and supervise the construction of the new cathedral. It is assumed that within a year, Francesco di Giacomo was supposed to create the project and execution plans for the church so that after his departure, the builders and stonecutters could start and complete the construction.
The cornerstone of the new cathedral, which will be built entirely Oh century, it was established on April 9, 1431.
Three phases of construction
The first phase of construction lasted from 1431 to 1441, during which various masters worked on the cathedral according to the project of Francesco di Giacomo. The masters of this phase were mentioned as Lorenzo Piucino and Antonio di Pier Paolo Busato from Venice, as well as Andrija Budčić and Grubiša Slafčić from Šibenik.
After the death of Bishop Bogdan Pulšić in 1437, Šibenik native Juraj Šižgorić, an educated Dominican and theology professor in Bologna, was chosen as the new bishop. He took on the construction of the cathedral with the same zeal as his predecessor. Bishop Šižgorić was responsible for a fateful turning point in the history of cathedral construction, by accepting a new designer and master builder, Juraj Dalmatinac.
The second phase of construction began in the fourth year of Bishop Juraj Šižgorić’s reign when the Šibenik noble council determined on April 23, 1441, that a lot of money had been spent on construction and that mistakes had been made, requiring some adjustments. and demolish you, a committee was formed to solve the problems that had arisen. A delegation was immediately sent to Venice, requesting permission to demolish the offices and stables in the courtyard in front of the Doge’s Palace and to create a new street in its place, which was approved. What was even more significant than the approval itself was that they brought a new architect from Venice.
After identifying the mistakes in the previous management of the construction, the construction supervisors entered into a contract with Juraj Dalmatinac. In the presence of Prince Jakov Donat and the Council, in front of the municipal executor Nikolinij, and with the presence of two witnesses, a contract was concluded between the construction supervisors and “a sensible man, master Juraj, a stonemason, the son of the late Matej from Zadar, a resident of Venice, now present in Šibenik”. Juraj undertook to lead and supervise all the work as the chief builder of St. James Cathedral, to give “instructions, orders, and measures”, but also to “personally work as a builder and as a stonemason”. Moreover, he would “go in any quarry”, issue orders and manage the extraction and carving of stone, loading and unloading.
Juraj of Dalmatia led the construction from 1441 until his death in 1473. Many skilled craftsmen, including Andrija Aleši and Ivan Pribislavić, worked with him as collaborators, assistants, and students. They would also collaborate with Juraj on other projects.
The present-day appearance of Šibenik Cathedral is thanks to Juraj of Dalmatia. With his new project, he introduced a series of innovations that made this cathedral unique in several aspects compared to other European cathedrals and Christian churches. We will mention only the most important ones.
Characteristics of Juraj’s project
Šibenik Cathedral is a three-nave basilica with dimensions of 38 x 14 m, with the highest height at the top of the dome reaching 38 m. It is built exclusively from stone, while all other stone churches are regularly built using plaster, most commonly with a wooden roof structure and roof tiles, and sometimes with o Juraj used Brač limestone from the quarry on the northern part of the island for the cathedral in Šibenik, in the area of Veselje, where it has been extracted since ancient times. Because of its quality and beauty, it is often called “Brač marble.”
Furthermore, the Šibenik Cathedral is the only building in Europe before the 19th century (when the use of metal structures and reinforced concrete began) where the walls of the apse were not made of elements interconnected with plaster, but were assembled using the original method of assembling large stone slabs, meticulously carved “to measure,” precisely profiled according to the designs and joined together so that the stepped groove of one slab overlaps the neighboring one or so that the prominent edge of one slab fits into the groove of the adjacent one, “groove and tongue,” which is commonly used in carpentry. In addition to the slabs, large stone pillars and ribs or belts are also used, integrated in the same way into a statically perfectly structured tectonic system.
The unity of structure and the assembly construction enabled It can be said that the volume of the building from the outside fully corresponds to the shape of the interior space; the space and its “shell” – a stone coating – are identical. The size and shape of the round roofs fully correspond to the round vaults of the church, which is not the case with similar buildings.
As a result of this construction method, a functional triple-arched facade was achieved. Namely, the triple-arched gable with a semicircular outline in the middle, supported by two quarter circles, is an original Renaissance feature, and we could say, a “signature” of early Renaissance sacral architecture. However, this church is the first and only one where this triple-arched shape is derived from the section, or arrangement, of the vaults above its three aisles, while in all other cases, the triple-arched shape is a kind of backdrop that does not follow the actual spatial shape of the building.
The Cathedral of Šibenik is also significant for a series of innovations in the field of iconography, such as the famous series of seventy-four sculptures depicting different heads on the entablature of the three apses. Observing the human being through the prism of a new perspective Juraj Dalmatinac, a proponent of humanistic philosophy, prioritized human beings over church iconography. Specifically, this series of heads is the largest and highest quality gallery of portraits displayed as a public monument of secular sculpture on a sacred monument in Europe, thus representing a triumph of humanism in the early European Renaissance. Interestingly, the heads have no indications of status, names, or professions, so we do not know whether they are donors, nobles, martyrs, saints, or passersby.
Completion of construction
After the death of Juraj Dalmatinac in 1473, the third phase of construction began. The project was taken over by Nikola Ivanov Firentinac, who remained faithful to Juraj’s design and plan. He worked until his death in 1505 and completed the vaults of the aisles and transept, as well as the dome.
However, even after Nikola Firentinac’s death, the cathedral would not be completed for the next three decades. The facade and the large rosette would be carved by Bartolomej and Jakov da Mestre (1528-1531), while the small rosette would be placed in the semi-circular arch. The gate will be made by Ivan Mestičević from Zadar (1536). Chronicles record that the works on the cathedral were completed on December 3, 1536. However, it will still be further decorated on the inside and finally consecrated in 1555.
Artistic value:
In terms of artistic value, the Šibenik Cathedral is one of the most valuable in a European context and is the most significant architectural monument of the Renaissance in Croatia. It was built in the late Gothic-Renaissance style. The part of the monument built in the first decade of construction belongs to the late Gothic style, while the parts created during the time of Juraj Dalmatinac and Nikola Firentinac bear distinct Renaissance characteristics. Juraj Dalmatinac’s special contribution is emphasized here. In the 15th century, when there were no Renaissance buildings outside of Italy in Europe, Juraj introduced and applied five important Renaissance motifs to Dalmatia: the pointed arch, fluted niche and pilaster, indented shell, and laurel wreath. In addition, Juraj Dalmatinac was the first architect in Europe to He applied geometric perspective in architecture, shaping shallow recessed niches on the apses of Šibenik Cathedral so that they appear semi-circular. Geometric perspective was discovered about twenty years earlier and until then it was only used in painting.
The centuries-old story of the construction of Šibenik Cathedral once again reminds us of everything that is needed for a work of human hands to become a true cultural achievement that surpasses the current needs of time and thus becomes woven into the mosaic of cultural heritage inherited by future centuries and generations.