Trogir has 2300 years of continuous urban tradition. The area was inhabited by ancient
Greeks,
Romans, and
Venetians. Trogir has a high concentration of palaces, churches, and towers, as well as a fortress on a small island. In 1997, was inscribed in the
UNESCO World Heritage List. "The orthogonal street plan of this island settlement dates back to the
Hellenistic period and it was embellished by successive rulers with many fine public and domestic buildings and fortifications. Its beautiful
Romanesque churches are complemented by the outstanding
Renaissance and
Baroque buildings from the Venetian period", says the
UNESCO report. Trogir is the best-preserved Romanesque-
Gothic complex not only in the Adriatic, but in all of
Central Europe. Trogir's
medieval core, surrounded by walls, comprises a preserved castle and tower and a series of dwellings and palaces from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods. Trogir's grandest building is the
Trogir Cathedral (church of
St. Lawrence), whose main west portal is a masterpiece by
Radovan, and the most significant work of the Romanesque-Gothic style in Croatia. The most important sites include: • Historical city core, with about 10 churches and numerous buildings from the 13th century • The city gate (17th century) and city walls (15th century) • The
Fortress Kamerlengo (15th century) • The Duke's Palace (13th century) •
The Cathedral (13th century) with the Portal of
Master Radovan, the unique work of this Dalmatian artist • The big and small palaces Cipiko from the 15th century • The city loggia from 15th century
The St. Peter Church was part of the women's
Benedictine monastery which was, according to the legend, founded by the wife of king
Bela IV of Hungary. The west front of the church is embellished by a
Baroque portal decorated with a
bust of St. Peter, the work of Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino. The interior was restored in a Baroque style in the second half of the 17th century. The wooden ceiling dating from that period is divided into oval, semioval and hexagon fields, framed by richly decorated borders. It was then that the two side-altars were added, dedicated to Mother Mary and St. Ignatius of Loyola. The high altar from the same period was made of wood, but only the statues of St. Peter and St. Paul have survived to the present day. Set into the pavement of the church one finds tombs of Trogir noble families Andreis and Cipiko.
The St. Sebastian's Church was built in 1476 as a votive church or an offering given by the citizens of Trogir in thanks for deliverance from the
plague. The front of this
Renaissance building, which was executed by Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino, is decorated with the sculptures of St. Sebastian and Christ the Saviour. It displays the coats of arms of Bishop Giacomo Torlon and that of the duke Malipiero. Above the front rises the two-story
tower of the town clock. A part of the eastern
wall contains the remains of a centrally planned church with six apses dedicated to St. Mary. Against the west walls rests a
plaque bearing names of the fallen defenders in the
Croatian War for Independence. The Town Loggia of Trogir was first recorded in documents of the 13th century. It served as a furnished public gathering space, and on certain dates and hours it was used by the communal legal service, as a place were contracts were signed, official announcements made, laws proclaimed, and where law proceedings took place. In 1471, the workshop of Niccolo di Giovanni Fiorentino executed a relief of Justice on the eastern wall, depicting the Venetian lion with S. Lawrence and B. John of Trogir, both guardians of the city. It was, in fact, a monument dedicated to the Republic of Venice. The central field with the lion was removed in 1932. On the south wall, the relief of a horseman depicting
Petar Berislavić, viceroy of Croatia (1513–1520), was done by
Ivan Meštrović. The Loggia was renovated in 1892.
The Garagnin-Fanfogna Palace is constituted of two blocks of
Romanesque and
Gothic buildings, incorporated into the ensemble in the second half of the 18th century, after the plans of Ignacije Macanović. The two-story building with the stone stairway situated on the south side originally had an economy purpose. Today its ground floor houses the town
lapidarium within which the city walls of the Hellenistic Tragurion are presented. On the first floor there is
Cata Dujšin-Ribar Gallery. The main entrance to the Palace with a lobby and a staircase was situated on the east side, in the main street, and decorated with a Late Baroque elements characteristic of the Macanović workshop. In the interior there is the original 18th century drawing room embellished with stucco decorations. The
library owned by Ivan L. Garagnin (1722–1783), a numismatist and collector of archaeological monuments, is decorated with wall paintings portraying philosophers and writers. The ensemble houses collections of paintings and graphics from the 17th and 18th centuries and the
Town Museum. The Museum of sacred art is hosted in the Late Baroque building on the Trogir main
square, dating from the 18th century. There is a rich collection of early Dalmatian and Venetian sacred paintings (14th–15th century) with masterpieces of
Gentile Bellini,
Paolo Veneziano,
Quirizio da Murano and others. Works of local masters, paintings of Blaž Jurjev Trogiranin [Blase, son of George from Trogir] or the 13th century
polyptych of the cathedral's high altar are exhibited in the Pinacotheca. The
Santa Maria de Platea belongs to the early 9th century hexafoil pattern churches. It is the central type building, consisting of a high dome surrounded by six apses, in the manner of Carolingian chapels. In the 17th century visitation four altars were described: the high was dedicated to the Assumption of Mary; the Renaissance one, built in 1463, was dedicated to St. Jerome; the remaining two were dedicated to St. Mary of Loreto and St. Lucy respectively. The church was demolished in the mid 19th century, its only image is preserved on the 18th century
French illustrator Ch. L. Clerisseau's drawing. The apses had three niches divided by pilaster strips on the outside surface wheres niches and
windows gave rhythm to the tambour of the dome. To the west there was a portico used as a medieval courtroom, street was closed by the city clock tower in the 15th century. ==Economy==