Central watchtower, added in the 1500s CE to fortify medieval Church of Saint Nicholas, near Nin in Zadar County, North Dalmatia, Croatia. The church was built on a prehistoric mound to a trefoil plan in the late 1000s or early 1100s AD and is the only example of pre-Romanesque architecture in Dalmatia. The church was fortified in the 1500s during a 100-year conflict between the Kingdom of Croatia and the Ottoman Empire .
Nin, Zadar County, North Dalmatia, Croatia: remains of a tree stump lie before the curved rubble wall of one of the three apses of the medieval coronation Church of Saint Nicholas, fortified in the 16th century against the Turks with the addition of a crenellated central watchtower. The church stands on an earthen mound or tumulus containing an unexcavated prehistoric tomb in a field between the Adriatic lagoon settlement of Nin, Croatia’s oldest royal town, and the regional capital Zadar, the country’s oldest continuously inhabited city. According to legend, seven medieval Croatian kings were crowned in Nin. After their coronation, each king would ride to the Church of St Nicholas to present themselves to the Croatian people and to vow to defend their homeland. The fortress-like church was built of stone rubble on a trefoil plan in the late-11th or early-12th century and is the only example of pre-Romanesque architecture in Dalmatia. The domed vault, reinforced by round-ribbed arches, supports a battlemented tower built as a lookout during the Hundred Years’ Croatian-Ottoman War of 1493-1593. Inside, the church is very small: just ( ft) long, ( ft) wide and 6m ( ft) high. Nin was founded in the 9th century BC by the Liburnians or Liburni, an Illyrian tribe living on the Adriatic coast. Their walled settlement on the small island in the lagoon appears to have prospered and under later Roman rule, Nin became an important sea port. In the 8th century AD, newly-arrived Croats formed their first kingdom and bishopric and the small town is today revered as the political, religious and cultural cradle of medieval Croatia. Its 10th century bishops included Grgur Ninski (Gregory of Nin), who strongly opposed the pope over the use of the Croatian language in religious services rather than Latin.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Nin, Zadar County, North Dalmatia, Croatia
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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