Zadar Sights

  1. Archaeological Museum

    Nearby is the modern Archaeological Museum , with pottery fragments dating back to the Neolithic Age. From the Liburnian era there are bronze swords, jewellery and pottery. Also interesting is a model of Zadar as it existed in Roman times, and statues of emperors Tiberius and Augustus.

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  2. Art Gallery

    Buy a ticket to the National Museum and you also get entry to the local Art Gallery , which has a changing series of exhibitions highlighting local artists.

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  3. Cathedral of St Anastasia

    The Romanesque Cathedral of St Anastasia , near the Church of St Donat, was built in the 12th and 13th centuries on the site of an older church. Behind the richly decorated façade is an impressive three-nave interior marked by 13th-century wall paintings in the side apses. Notice particularly the fresco of a gateway in the southern apse, which was used as a model for the door frame of the main portal.

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  4. Church of St Donat

    The main places of interest are near the circular Church of St Donat , one of the most outstanding monuments in Dalmatia. Dating from the beginning of the 9th century, it was named after Bishop Donat who allegedly had it built following the style of early Byzantine architecture. The unusual circular ground plan is especially visible on the southern side because the southern annexe is missing.

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  5. Franciscan Monastery & Church

    The Franciscan Monastery & Church a few blocks away is in better shape. Although it's the oldest Gothic church in Dalmatia - it was consecrated in 1280 - the interior has a number of Renaissance features such as a lovely chapel of St Anthony, which contains a 15th-century wooden crucifix. In the sacristy a memorial tablet commemorates the seminal event in Zadar's history - the 1358 treaty under which Venice relinquished its rights to Dalmatia in favour of the Croatian-Hungarian king, Ludovic.

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  6. Museum of Church Art

    The outstanding Museum of Church Art in the Benedictine monastery opposite the Church of St Donat offers an impressive display of reliquaries and religious paintings. Along with the goldsmiths' works in the first hall, notice the 14th-century painting of the Madonna. She features again in the second hall, where the most notable works of her are a marble sculpture and Paolo Veneziani's painting.

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  7. National Museum

    The National Museum , in the Benedictine monastery of St Krževan's Church, is an excellent historical museum. It features scale models of Zadar from different periods, and old paintings and engravings of many coastal cities.

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  8. St Grisogonus Church

    Another notable church is St Grisogonus Church , which was part of a 12th-century Benedictine monastery that was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944. The church has a baroque altar constructed in 1701 and Byzantine frescoes on the northern wall and in the northern apse. Frescoes on the southern apse are poorly preserved.

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  9. St Simeon's Church

    St Simeon's Church was reconstructed in the 16th and 17th centuries on the site of an earlier church. The sarcophagus of St Simeon is a masterpiece of medieval goldsmith work. Commissioned in 1377, the coffin is made of cedar and covered inside and out with finely executed gold-plated silver reliefs. The middle relief showing Christ's presentation in the Temple is a copy of Giotto's fresco from Capella dell'Arena in Padua, Italy.

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