Euphrasian Basilica
Eufrazijeva bazilika
- UNESCO World Heritage
Interesting facts
- Coins of Emperor Valens, who reigned 365–378, found on the site help date the earliest Christian oratory beneath the basilica.
- The very first church here grew out of a large Roman house and was dedicated to Saint Maurus in the second half of the 4th century.
- The wall mosaics were made by Byzantine masters, while the floor mosaics were laid by local craftsmen.
- Christ on the triumphal arch holds a book open at the Latin words meaning "I am the true light".
- Beneath the arch runs a row of 13 medallions: the Lamb of God surrounded by portraits of twelve female martyrs.
- In the Annunciation mosaic, Mary holds a skein of yarn in her left hand while the angel carries a messenger's staff.
- The mother-of-pearl wall inlay in the apse is arranged in 21 panels using 11 different decorative patterns.
- After an earthquake in 1440 the southern wall of the nave was rebuilt, and Gothic windows replaced the destroyed originals.
- The 1277 ciborium, ordered by Bishop Otto, rests on four marble columns reused from the original 6th-century canopy.
Why it is worth it
The Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč, on the western coast of Istria, is one of the best-preserved early Christian church complexes anywhere, and it is famous for its sixth-century mosaics. It was built from 553 under Bishop Euphrasius on the site of two earlier churches, reusing some of their parts and marble brought from the shores of the Sea of Marmara, and it took about ten years to complete. The whole episcopal group — atrium, basilica, octagonal baptistery, bishop's palace and bell tower — has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
The apse is the reason to come. Against a gold ground, the Virgin and Child are enthroned beneath a hand reaching down from heaven, flanked by angels and local saints; Bishop Euphrasius himself holds a model of the church, and beside him stands his archdeacon Claudius with a small boy labelled as the archdeacon's son. It is considered the only surviving depiction of the Mother of God in the apse of an early Christian basilica in the West. Below are scenes of the Annunciation and the Visitation, the lower walls are panelled in stone inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the bishop's throne still stands in the centre.
The church is also important as architecture. Its eighteen Greek marble columns carry capitals carved with animals and the monogram of Euphrasius, and its three apses — a polygonal central apse between two smaller ones — make it the earliest triple-apsed church in Western Europe. Over the altar stands a ciborium of 1277 modelled on the one at St Mark's in Venice. Beneath the floor and in the garden, mosaics survive from the fourth- and fifth-century churches, including a fish from the earliest Christian community on the site.
The church also keeps sacred objects and artworks from the early Christian, Byzantine and medieval periods, a gilded silver Renaissance altar frontal, a polyptych by Antonio Vivarini and a Last Supper by Palma the Younger. A votive chapel next to the sacristy holds the relics of Saint Maurus, the first bishop of Poreč, and Saint Eleutherius.
Getting there
The basilica is in the old town of Poreč, about 45 km from Pula. Pula Airport (PUY) is about 45 km away, and Koper in Slovenia lies about 37 km to the north. The basilica is an active cathedral — check visiting times and services before going.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Euphrasian Basilica or the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of Mary is a Roman Catholic basilica in the Istrian town of Poreč, Croatia. The episcopal complex, which comprises the basilica itself, a sacristy, a baptistery and the bell tower of the nearby archbishop's palace, is an excellent example of early Byzantine architecture in the Mediterranean region.
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