SAINT ANASTASIA'S CATHEDRAL
St. Anastasia Cathedral, Zadar
The Cathedral of St. Anastasia is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zadar,
Croatia. It is the largest church in all of Dalmatia. Saint Anastasia cathedral
(Croatian: Katedrala sv. Stošije) is the seat of the Archdiocese of Zadar. The
church's origins date back to a Christian basilica built in the 4th and 5th
century, while much of today's building was constructed in the 12th and 13th
centuries in the Romanesque style. During the siege of Zadar by the Venetians
and Crusaders in 1202, the cathedral was heavily damaged. For the entire 13th
century the building was under repair; it was reconstructed and made longer. Its
bell-tower was built in the 15th and 19th c. mostly in a neo-Romanesque style.
Over the cathedral's history, two popes have made personal visits. Pope
Alexander III arrived in 1177 and visited the cathedral as well as St.
Anastasia's sarcophagus. Pope John Paul II came to the cathedral on June 9, 2003
on one of his last international visits.
