Historic City of Trogir, Trogir

This is actually quite a charming place. A shady arcaded loggia right in the town square. Free to enter and roam about. Great place for photographs as it has lovely views of the square and the cathedral.

The City Loggia is located in the southwest corner of the square, next to the tower with the clock. The first building dates back to the XIVth century but it was renovated in 1471 according to plans drawn up by Nicholas of Florence. He raised the pavement so that the space acquired a dignified appearance. The columns were brought in from the ruins of Antique edifices. Excepting a Gothic capital the rest date from the Middle Ages. On the east wall of the loggia the Florentine master carved a brilliant relief which almost embodies the fullness of plastic art. The relief has a rectangular frame and is divided into a number of smaller rectangles in which are displayed figures, coats-of-arms, inscriptions and ornaments. The allegorical figure of Justice with scales dominates the central rectangles of the upper row. Figures of angels holding inscriptions devoted to justice are on display in the smaller rectangles on the right and the left side. Up to 1932 the central rectangle showed a brilliantly carved Venetian lion. Its sides were flanked by the patron saints of Trogir, Blessed John of Trogir who in his hand held a model of the city and St. Lawrence holding a grill, the symbol of his martyrdom. To the left and to the right, encompassing two rows of rectangles, two tall Renaissance candelabrums were carved. These are almost the trademark of the Florentine master. In the lower part of the relief stone ornaments, coats-of-arms and inscriptions follow one another. At the beginning of the XVIIth century, Tripun Bokanić constructed a new table for judges and a fence barrier with banisters. On the south wall is a relief, the work of the famous Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović made in 1938 which shows the equine figure of the bishop and the Croatian vice-roy Petar Berislavić from Trogir, a great enemy of the Venetians who died in 1520 fighting the Turks.