Sites
St. Vidus
In the fifth century, a single-nave Early Christian church was built at the site of today’s Church of St. Vitus. It had a semi-circular apse, vestibule and annexes on the northern and southern sides. The church was almost 30 m long and 25 m wide. In contrast to the Salona-type of Early Christian churches, in which the annexes, if any, were concentrated on the narrower portion of one of the lateral walls, the Narona-type Early Christian churches were characterized by smaller rooms along both walls of the basilica.
As Christianity spread from Narona to the interior, so too did this church type appear in the Dalmatian provincial hinterland, especially along the Neretva River in Herzegovina.
A baptistery was built in one of the northern annexes at the same time as the church. The position of the baptistery north of the church is typical for Dalmatia, but the octagonal shape of the font and the decorative coloured plaster imitating marble are unusual for this region. The baptismal font had steps on its north and south sides and was 1.5 m deep, serving for baptisms by submersion. The lack of graves contemporary with the church indicates that it had no graveyard. It is possible that it was used as the Narona cathedral.
The church probably ceased to function after the fall of Narona at the beginning of the seventh century. Thereafter, the entire site was out of use until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when a late medieval cemetery emerged on the ruins of the church, fully obscuring the church’s architectural remains. Today’s Church of St. Vitus was erected at the site of, and obscured, this cemetery in the seventeenth century. Its southern wall partially consists of the remains of the ancient church’s walls.
The Church of St. Vitus features an exhibition of finds from the site of both the Early Christian church and medieval cemetery, with the baptistery and polychrome frescoes being presented by exhibition boards. The architectural remains of the Early Christian Church can also be seen around the church. The cornice of the stone baptismal font has been erected to the level of the floor of today’s Church of St. Vitus, while the baptismal font itself has been conserved at its original level.
Photo gallery of the site
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“ Publius Vatinius to his friend Cicero greeting. If you are well I am glad; I am also well. I have not yet fished out anything about your Dionysius, and the less so, because the Dalmatian cold, which forced me out of that country, has again frozen me here. However, I will not give up till I have sooner or later got hold of him. … Good-bye. 5 December, Narona. – Cicero, V, Letter X. ”
