World Heritage Identification Number: 963
World Heritage since: 2000
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇭🇷 Croatia
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik: A Testament to Architectural Mastery and Artistic Fusion
The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik, located on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, stands as a testament to the intricate exchanges in the realm of monumental arts that occurred between Northern Italy, Dalmatia, and Tuscany during the 15th and 16th centuries. This architectural marvel, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, showcases a harmonious blend of Gothic and Renaissance artistry, while also demonstrating innovative construction techniques that have left an indelible mark on the annals of history.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik (1431-1535), on the Dalmatian coast, bears witness to the considerable exchanges in the field of monumental arts between Northern Italy, Dalmatia and Tuscany in the 15th and 16th centuries. The three architects who succeeded one another in the construction of the Cathedral - Francesco di Giacomo, Georgius Mathei Dalmaticus and Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino - developed a structure built entirely from stone and using unique construction techniques for the vaulting and the dome of the Cathedral. The form and the decorative elements of the Cathedral, such as a remarkable frieze decorated with 71 sculptured faces of men, women, and children, also illustrate the successful fusion of Gothic and Renaissance art.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (i): The structural characteristics of the Cathedral of St James in Šibenik make it a unique and outstanding building in which Gothic and Renaissance forms have been successfully blended. Criterion ii The Cathedral of St James is the fruitful outcome of considerable interchanges of influences between the three culturally different regions of Northern Italy, Dalmatia, and Tuscany in the 15th and 16th centuries. These interchanges created the conditions for unique and outstanding solutions to the technical and structural problems of constructing the cathedral vaulting and dome. Criterion iv The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik is a unique testimony to the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance period in church architecture.
Encyclopedia Record: Šibenik Cathedral
The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik, Croatia, is a triple-nave Catholic basilica with three apses and a dome. It is the episcopal seat of the Šibenik diocese. It is also the most important architectural monument of the Renaissance in the entire country. Since 2000, the cathedral has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List.Additional Site Details
Area: 0.1 hectares
(ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
Coordinates: 43.73629 , 15.89038
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© SchiDD, CC BY-SA 4.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
