St. Blaise's Church

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The Church of St. Blaise is a Baroque church in Dubrovnik and one of the city's major sights. Saint Blaise (St. Vlaho), identified by medieval Slavs with the pagan god Veles, is the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik and formerly the protector of the independent Republic of Ragusa.

The church was built in 1715 by the Venetian architect and sculptor Marino Gropelli (1662-1728) on the foundations of the badly damaged Romanesque medieval church. He modeled the church on Sansovino's Venetian church of San Maurizio.

The church consists of a single square nave with a ground plan in the form of an inscribed Greek cross, an apse flanked by two sacristies and an oblong cupola in the center. A flight of stairs leads to the portal, decorated with statues of angels. The facade is divided by four Corinthian columns. On top of the facade is a semicircular gable and a balustrade with three statues by Marino Gropelli: a free standing Saint Blaise (in the middle) and personifications of Faith and Hope.

The barrel-vaulted interior is richly decorated in Baroque style. The Corinthian columns in the center bear the tambour of the cupola and lantern. The corners of the nave show blind cupolas. The main altar, in a combination of white and polychrome marble, shows in a high niche a precious, gilt silver Gothic statue of Saint Blaise, crafted in the 15th century by an unknown local master. The saint shows in his left hand a scale model of the Romanesque church which was destroyed by the earthquake in 1667. He is flanked by two kneeling angels. This statue was the only one to survive the fire of 1706. The domed antependium is decorated with two angels who unveil a curtain in front of a medallion.

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Details

Founded: 1715
Category: Religious sites in Croatia

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Alexandra Birtar (17 months ago)
A small but nice church.
Alexandra Dumitru (17 months ago)
Maybe one of the most interesting places in Dubrovnik
D Henrick (2 years ago)
Maybe the most important church of all in old Dubrovnik and dedicated to the cities saint St. Blaise. Built in 1715 in baroque style you enter a barrel-vaulted interior with rich baroque decoration. The appeasing atmosphere gives room to meditate and pray.
Madan Gopal Madabhushi (4 years ago)
An iconic Church to visit at Dubrovnik dedicated to patron Saint Blaise. Designed by an Italian architect in 1715 and a shining example of faith and customs.
Kane Dodgson (4 years ago)
A beautiful, beautiful church. Unlike a lot of churches this one is light, bright, less foreboding but equally pretty and beautiful. I love the architecture, atmosphere and images in old churches, this place does not disappoint. The first time I went purely to take images but i returned a few days later simply to sit and be. I then found myself in the middle of a service which (despite not being religious myself) was very lovely to see. It can get quite crowded as it is small inside compared to most European churches that hold a similar main role in a town. This is typical of buildings in Dubrovnik Old Town, obviously due to the very limited space within the Walls. Their are hordes of people taking photographs (including me) and as such it is hard to soak up the true atmosphere at these times so I would recommend coming back early morning or later in the evening or when a service is on because its a lovely place to sit with yourself.
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