Katedrala Svetog Vida (St Vitus Cathedral)

(Trg Grivica 11, daily 0800-1200, 1600-1900.)

From the City Tower, walk straight across the Stari Grad (Old Town), through Trg Ivana Koblena and Grivica, to arrive at the cathedral. Work on this baroque rotunda (a building with a circular ground plan), built on the site of an even older church, began in 1638 and was completed in 1744. It was designed by the Jesuit architect Giacomo Briano, and is said to have been inspired by the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice. Inside, above the main altar, stands a 13th-century wooden Gothic crucifix, which was also kept in the former church. Local myth has it that during the 13th century one Petar Lončarić was playing cards here with two friends. He was losing, and out of anger threw a rock at the crucifix, hitting the body of Christ, which immediately began to bleed. The unfortunate gambler was swallowed up by the ground and the crucifix consequently proclaimed miraculous. Events from this story are depicted on the cathedral’s bronze doors, added in the 1990s.