Broad horizons Back to nature

38 What to see
What to see
39
Liburnians brought from Greece and Italy. The first floor
covers the Classical period, from the Romanised Liburnians
(1st century BC) to the widescale Roman settlement (6th
century AD). Artefacts include weaponry, items from local
necropoli and sculpture, mosiacs and art created in farflung
parts of the Roman Empire. The collection of 1st-3rd
century glassware is wonderful. Also well worth seeing is a
reconstruction showing the Forum area in Roman times. In a
smaller room are exhibits from the development of Christianity
in North Dalmatia in the late Classical and early Byzantine
period, and rare artefacts from the invasion of the Goths.
The ground floor (early Middle Ages, 8th to 11th centuries)
contains exhibits from early Croatian graves near Nin, and
stone furniture from churches which did not survive the ages.
QOpen 09:00 - 21:00. Admission 12 - 15kn.
National Museum (Narodni muzej Zadar) C-2,
Poljana pape Aleksandra III bb, tel. (+385-23) 25 18 51.
The Zadar branch of the National Museum traces the urban
development of Zadar from the Baroque to the first half of the
19th century: architectural fragments, portraiture, furniture
and (particularly recommended) early photography. There are
also scale models of Zadar through the ages. The scientific
section of the National Museum is kept in the Deputy’s Palace
(see Palaces). The Zadar National Museum consists of the
Zadar City Museum, the Natural Science Department and the
Ethnological Department. Tickets are purchased seperately
for each department. QOpen 09:00 - 12:00, 18:00 - 21:00,
Sat 09:00 - 13:00. Closed Sun. Admission 5 - 15kn.
The Museum of Ancient Glass (Muzej antičkog
stakla) D-2, Poljana Zemaljskog odbora 1, tel. (+385-
23) 36 38 33/(+385-23) 36 38 30, www.mas-zadar.
hr. The museum is one of the city’s newest attractions.
It’s housed in the 19th century Cosmacendi Palace and has
some outstanding views that overlook the Jazine harbour. The
museum contains one of the premium collections of Roman
glassware outside Italy, with a cornucopia of goblets, jars and
vials retrieved from archaeological sites across Dalmatia.
Highlights include the delicate vessels used by Roman ladies
to store perfumes, skin creams and essential oils. Also look
out for glass cups used to celebrate Mass, and dainty flasks in
which holy water was stored. Take the opportunity to see the
replica Roman glassware on sale as this is one of the classiest
souvenir-stops in the city. QOpen 09:00 - 19:00. Open July -
October Open 09:00 - 21:00. Admission 10 - 30kn.
Legend of Saint Anastasia
Under the reign of Emperor Diocletian at around the
4th century AD, Christians were persecuted in great
numbers and a young girl by the name of Anastasia was
secretly raised in the holy faith. Of noble descent, she
was forced into an arranged marriage to a Roman pagan
named Publius and was soon after put under house
arrest because she wanted to remain a virgin - a sign of
her piety and faith. Anastasia was in a loveless marriage
that so many women had to endure in those days. After
her husband’s death, she went to Aquileia accompanying
Saint Chrysogonus where she testified to his martyrdom.
According to one of numerous legends, she was tortured
during the reign of Emperor Diocletian and was burned
at the stake. Her relics were moved to Constantinople in
the 5th century and Zadar bishop Donatus received them
as a gift from the emperor Nicephor I as a sign of peace
between Byzantine and Zadar. Her remains were moved
to Zadar and were placed in a stone sarcophagus in Saint
Peter’s Church which has from then on been called the
Church of Saint Anastasia.
Palaces
Deputy’s Palace (Providurova palača) D-3.
Completed in 1607 as the residence of the Venetian Deputy
to Zadar, it now houses the Matica Hrvatska (the Central
Croatian Cultural and Publishing Society). The building
adjoining it at Medulićeva 2 houses the Scientific Department
of the National Musem (exhibiting flora and fauna, including
sea life, not only of the Zadar region but from all over the
world. Open 09:00 - 12:00, 17:00 - 20:00, Sat 09:00 - 13:00.
Closed Sun. Admission 5 - 10kn).
Knight’s Palace (Kneževa palača) D-3, Poljana Šime
Budinića. Together with the Deputy’s Palace it forms the
Regency complex. The oldest Romanesque elements date
back to the 13th Century, the courtyard is the oldest example
of Classicism in Zadar. The palace is now under reconstruction
after damage in the 1990s war.
Knight’s Palace
Nassis and Patrizio Palaces (Palače Nassis i
Petrizio) D/C -3. Near St Simeon’s Church in Ulica don Ive
Prodana are two beautiful examples of Gothic-Renaissance
palaces, demonstrating how architecture, and in particular
the creation of courtyard gardens, flowered during the 14th
and 15th centuries behind the city walls, despite incessant
bombardment by enemies.
Palace Grisogono (Palača Grisogono) D-3. Another
palace near St Simeon’s, on the corner of Ulica don Ive
Prodana and Ulica Ilije Smiljanića. The first floor originally
consisted of two connected Romanesque buildings. In the
16th Century the first floor was adapted in a combination
of Renaissance and Gothic styles. Again, the courtyard is
well worth a look.
Parks
Queen Jelena Madijevka Park (Perivoj kraljice
Jelene-Madijevka) D/E-3. Vladimir Nazor Park is not
the city’s oldest - that distinction goes the park named
after Queen Jelena Madijevka (Medici), built on top of the
Grimaldi bastion by Five Wells Square. Founded by Austrian
commander Baron Franz Ludwig von Welden in 1829, a
passionate botanist and admirer of Dalmatian flora, it was
the first public park in Dalmatia. To create a garden on top
of a military object was an unusual move, but one Zadar is
eternally grateful for.
Vladimir Nazor Park (Perivoj Vladimira Nazora)
E-3. Named since WWII after one of the most famous
Croatian writers, Zadar’s biggest park lies on top of the city’s
biggest fort, just east of the peninsula and the Land Gate.
It was created in 1888-90 by an Austrian deputy, Dragutin
Blažekovic, born to a noble family in Osijek (east Croatia).
Despite working for the Austrians, he was a supporter of
Croatian rights, and resigned when the Austrians refused
to concede them. He left something beautiful to the city - a
richly planted park with winding pathways, a pond, and an
elevation giving great views of the sea. He died three years
after it was completed, and the park was named after him
- against his wishes.
Religious collection
Silver and Gold of the
City of Zadar (Zlato i
srebro Zadra) B-3, Trg
opatice Čike 1, tel. (+385-
23) 25 04 96/(+385-23)
25 48 20. If you come to
Zadar you must see the
Forum and St Donatus. If
you only see one other thing,
make it the Silver and Gold
of Zadar. It’s housed in the
Benedictine convent of St
Mary’s, where it has been
guarded by nuns since the
end of the Second World
War. It forms the Permanent
Exhibition of Religious Art, one of the most important cultural
repositories in Croatia. The city has enjoyed various periods
of flowering of arts and culture, and the work of local gold and
silversmiths (including Italians and Venetians resident in the
city) is absolutely stunning, spanning the millennium between
the 8th and 18th Centuries. The collection includes reliquaries
for either entire saints or parts of them (e.g. hands, arms and
heads), crucifixes, paintings, and vestements interwoven
with gold and silver thread. The collection is presented in
intimate and atmospheric surroundings, and is guaranteed
to leave the most resolute non-believer awestruck. On the
Photo Workshop in Sestrunj
ground floor there is also a reconstruction of the former
chapel of St Nediljica and examples of Romanesque masonry.
Q Open 10:00 - 13:00, 18:00 - 20:00. Sun 10:00 - 13:00.
Admission 15 - 20kn.
Silver Casket of St Simeon (Srebrna raka sv.
Šime) D-3, Trg Petra Zoranića 7, tel. (+385-23) 21 17
05. In the church of the same name, a gilded silver casket
on the altar is raised on the outstretched arms of four bronze
angels. It contains the remains of the popular saint-protector
of the city. Commissioned in 1381 by Elizabeth, wife of
Croat-Hungarian King Ludwig I of Anjou, it’s one of the finest
examples of the work of Zadar’s silversmiths, and inside and
out shows in intricate detail scenes from the saint’s life and
the city’s history.
Locals say that a merchant who was shipping the body of St
Simeon from the Holy Land to Venice was caught in a storm,
and sought shelter here. He fell ill, and before he died had the
body buried, but told the nurses taking care of him that they
would find something interesting in his documents. They found
an inscription of the powers of the saint around his neck, and
asked three local priests to dig up the grave that night. Not yet
knowing the true nature of the occupant of the grave, visions
appeared to them, and St Simeon has been revered in Zadar
ever since. The silver casket of St. Simeon can be viewed daily
and his remains will be shown to the public on his patron day,
October the 8th. Q Open 08:30 - 12:00.
The Sacred Art Collection of St Francis’ Monastery
(Riznica samostana sv. Frane) Trg sv. Frane 1, tel.
(+385-23) 25 04 68. The monastery has a rich collection
of religious art, highlights of which include a 12th century
painted Romanesque crucifix and a 15th century polyptych
from the island of Ugljan which is a fine example of Gothic
painting in Croatia. There are also ancient incunabula,
documents, liturgical vessels and more. QOpen 09:00 -
18:00. Admission 5 - 15kn.
Zadar In Your Pocket
zadar.inyourpocket.com
zadar.inyourpocket.com
Summer 2011