Remarks on Dating the Construction of the Romanesque cathedral in Zadar

Abstract

This paper is a response by the author of the book about the Romanesque cathedral in Zadar on the observations made by Predrag Marković from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. Based on the writings of Daniele Farlati, an 18th-century historian, Marković suggests that the construction of the church began at the end of the 12th century and was completed a century later. However, there are no reliable historical sources from the time of the construction. Therefore, the author of the book connects the church’s architecture with the cultural environment in which it was created, and in which other Romanesque sacral buildings in Zadar were built during the 12th century. All this suggests that the cathedral dates back to the time of the first Archbishop of Zadar, Lampridije (1154–1178). Later, during Archbishop Lovro Perijander (1245–1287), it was extended on the front side, even with some elements of Gothic architecture, and consecrated in 1285.