Church of St. Vitus
Before you is the Church of St. Vitus – modest in size, but great in historical significance. This building, located between the Bembo and Malipiero bastions, has gone through a journey – from an ancient Croatian church, through an Ottoman mosque, and all the way to the present-day Catholic church.
In the 9th century, the Croats built a pre-Romanesque church on this site, probably already during the time of Prince Trpimir. Its remains are still clearly visible today in the floor of the southern part of the present-day church. However, with the arrival of the Ottomans in 1537, the church was demolished and the foundations buried. The Turks built a mosque here, as an endowment of Murat-beg Tardić – the commander who captured Klis. It was a simple but solid building, with a dome and a minaret, one of the rare Islamic buildings in Dalmatia.
When the Venetians captured Klis in 1648, the mosque was transformed into a church. The first mass was celebrated on captured Turkish banners, and General Foscolo was present – kneeling, as a sign of gratitude. A bell tower was added to the facade, and new furnishings were brought inside. A Baroque washbasin, brought from the Provindur's apartment, still stands inside today, alongside an elegant shell-shaped sprinkling bowl.
The interior of the church is rich in historical details. Parts of the altar partition from the old Croatian church have been preserved, including a marble fragment with the inscription "rex Croatorum filius" and "mea Domaslava regina". The phrase "rex Croatorum filius" means "King of the Croats, son (of the king)" and indicates that the man speaking in the inscription is the King of the Croats, the son of the previous king, which confirms his legitimacy and belonging to the ruling line. The phrase "mea Domaslava regina" means "my Queen Domaslava" and refers to the king's wife, a woman with the title of regina (queen). The name Domaslava was reconstructed based on the preserved parts of the inscription and is believed to be an unknown Croatian queen from the first half of the 10th century.
Also, a relief depicting Christ in glory from the 11th or 12th century was found. The interior of the church is characterized by a dome with trumpets, an octagonal drum and a tufa vault. The remains of the minaret, which was destroyed during the Venetian siege, have also been preserved.
The church later served as a military warehouse, but despite everything, it survived wars, decay and reconstruction. In the 20th century, its roof collapsed, but its splendor was restored with a renovation in 2005. Above the altar today stands a copy of the icon of the Mother of God, which the Uskoks took with them to Split, fleeing from the Turks. The original is kept in the Church of Our Lady of Dobrić, but this copy returns the spirit of past times to its original place.
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