Dubrovnik Cathedral

Dubrovnik's Baroque cathedral was built between 1671 and 1713 on the site of an earlier Romanesque church destroyed in the earthquake of 1667. The interior is spacious and relatively plain by Baroque standards, but the Treasury is exceptional. It holds a large collection of relics — over 180 pieces — including a gold reliquary of St. Blaise's head, the arm and leg of the city's patron saint, and a fragment of the True Cross.

The polyptych above the main altar is attributed to Titian, though this is disputed by some scholars. The piece was commissioned by the Republic of Ragusa and has been in the cathedral since before the earthquake. The Cathedral faces the Gundulic square (Gunduliceva Poljana), which hosts the city's produce market each morning.

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A story
The original Romanesque cathedral on this site was, according to legend, funded by Richard the Lionheart of England, who built it in thanksgiving after being rescued from a storm near the island of Lokrum in 1192 while returning from the Crusades. The story is almost certainly apocryphal — Richard's connection to Dubrovnik is not documented — but it has been maintained with considerable enthusiasm for eight centuries.

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