THE OLD TOWN
The Old Town nucleus, protected historical whole (Protection declaration was issued by the Institute of Ancient Monuments in Rijeka in 1963) is the most wonderful and the most interesting part of Rovinj.
It is beautiful to experience the old part of town, rich with numerous Romanesque – Gothic, Renaissance, baroque, neoclassical windows, balconies, altanas (terraces on the roofs), portals, stairs. Walking through narrow lanes and squares we will be fascinated with the beauty of tightly squeezed houses that hold each other up on the slope underneath the church of St Euphemia. Once, they were protected by the early medieval and renaissance town walls, partly preserved till today on the north and south sides of the Old Town.
Three of seven town gates have preserved their original shape: St Benedict Gate (today Vrata na obali – the Gate On the Coast), the Gate Under the Wall (Vrata pod zidom) with the inscription from 1590 and the Holy Cross Gate (Vrata Svetog kriza), with the town coat-of-arms, while the Gate of Old Fish Market (today called Balbi’s Arch) has seen some changes.
From Town Square we can enter the Old Town through Balbi’s Arch, beautiful Venetian building covered with stones in 1678-79. On the upper part of the arch there is a figure of a head in Turkish style on the outer side, and in Venetian style on the inner side. Some hundred years later, the architrave of the arch was ornamented with two coats-of-arms of the Balbi family. Between these two coats-of-arms there is a wall stone with the inscription and, above it a figure of Venetian lion. The stone lion is unique for its unusual motto on the stone book which reads: VICTORIA TIBI MERCE EVANGELISTA MEVS.
On the left side of the Balbi’s Arch there is the Town hall, once praetorian palace. Its foundations are from 1308.In centuries to follow it was restored many times. In a part of the ground floor there was prison, while on the first floor were the Big Hall of the Town Council, other offices and archive.
In 1822 sotoportico with the Old Town gate was pulled down; façade and atrium were renewed between 1850 and 1860 when a row of coats-of-arms of Venetian and Rovinj families was placed, as well as town’s coat-of-arms. It is interesting that Rovinj coat-of-arms – heraldic red cross on the white field – appears already in the 14th and 15th centuries. Today, on the first floor we can see beautiful frescoes from 1584 that used to be in the former Town Hall.
On Matteoti Square there is recently renewed building of Centre for historic researches of the Italian Union. The Centre, founded in 1968, has a rich library with over 80.000 works. From 1995 the library has the status of Biblioteca depositaria del Consiglio d’Europa – library in which material of European Council for human rights and the rights of minorities is deposited. From Matteotti Square we come to Veli Square full of Renaissance houses from the 16th century. We can choose any lane, each of them wonderful and special. Some will take us to the coast, some, like Grisia, known itself for the art exhibition, will take us to the top of the hill with the parish church of St Euphemia, patroness of the town. At the end of the lane, more precisely underneath the church, there is the church of St Joseph, built in 1673. THE CHURCH OF ST EUPHEMIA Baroque building in Venetian style and the biggest monument in town, was reconstructed between 1725 and 1736. The church is 51,11 m long on the outside and 30,26 m wide. Nave is 17,71 m high, and two aisles 10,11 m.
On the present spot of this imposing church, there was, till the 10th century, the Church of St George whose statue is on the main altar. St George has remained co-patron of the town. In 800 stone sarcophagus with the body of Christian martyr Euphemia was brought to town. People from nearby places were coming on pilgrimage to her grave. The existing St George church became too small therefore, at the beginning of the 10th century, the building of a new church started.
Around 950 a new basilica with three naves and three round apses was finished. The sarcophagus with the martyr’s body was put in the middle, and St Euphemia became the patroness of the town together with St George. Year 1178 is important for the parish and the church. It was when the church became capitular by the papal bull of Alexander III. This early medieval church had three altars. The middle, main altar leaned on the wall of the nave, and there was a small wooden statue of St George on it. On the right side there was the altar of the Holy Sacrament, and on the left side the altar of St Euphemia on which there was a small wooden statue of the Saint. In the 16th century this statue was replaced with a new gold-plated stone statue that is still on the altar. (In the next centuries the church and its roof were regularly repaired).
In 1720 it was decided to start building a new church worth of God’s glory and suitable for devotion of our people as it is written in the Capitular archives.
For the project of the new church, a Venetian architect Giovanni Scalferotto was engaged. People were not satisfied with him so Giovanni Dozzi made some changes. Building itself started in 1725, when churches of St George, St Ursula, St Michael and St Rok were pulled down. Building moved on very quickly, so already in 1728 all three stalls behind the main altars were covered. St Euphemia’s sarcophagus was moved to its present place. Three main altars, according to the project of Gerolamo Laureato from Venice, were raised in 1741, when Mazzolani, the Bishop of Porec, blessed three big statues on the main altar, those of St George, St Rok and St Mark. In 1747 another Bishop of Porec, Gaspare de Nigris, proclaimed the church insignis (excellent). The church was consecrated in 1756. In 1754, on the eve of St Euphemia’s Day, music from the organ, valuable cultural and historical monument preserved till today, could be heard for the first time. The organ was built by Antonio Barbini. Later on, bigger restorations were made – the last in 1958.
In 1780, Rovinj architect Simone Batistella made a project to cover a part of the south front with stone. The work began only in 1861 but according to the project of engineer Depozzi.
By the south door there’s a relief wall stone with a gothic-style image of St Euphemia, as well as built in Old-Christian and pre Romanesque fragments.
The inside of the Church is beautiful. The main altar and other two altars are works of Gerolamo Laureato, while beautiful statues of St George, St Rok and St Mark were made out of Carara marble by brothers Alvise and Ambrogio Tagliapietra. The altar of Holy Sacrament is rich with marble. Small pillars on the altar and statues of angels between them, as well as silver antependium from 1777 made in Venetian workshops, are especially exquisite. Communion pew is also made of Carara marble and with its beauty contributes to the harmony of space.
Behind the altar of St Euphemia there is sarcophagus made of marble from Asia Minor with the relics of the Saint. On the wall behind the main altar three paintings in gold plated frames have their places but they are under restoration at the moment.
The biggest of them is the Last Supper by Giovanni Contarini from 1574. The others two, by unknown authors, much more damaged, show Jesus in Gethsemane and apostles sleeping. There was also one smaller painting of Madonna with the Child, valuable Byzantine icon, now in the vestry.
Beside nice font and marble font basins in the bottom of the church, once with statues of St George and St Euphemia, numerous altars make the church beautiful.
The church is rich with silver although, a big part of it was taken by the French Government due to the decree from 1806. SAINT EUPHEMIA AND THE SARCOPHAGUS There are a few facts about life and death of St Euphemia. She was a daughter of a respectable man from Chalcedon, near Constantinople. Being a Christian under Emperor Diocletian, in 304 she was imprisoned and tortured and finally thrown to lions. She is most often represented with the martyr’s olive branch and wheel and beside her one or more lions. Euphemia died on September 16th 304.
Devoted Christians kept her body, brought it to Constantinople where Emperor Constantin built a big church to honour her. The sarcophagus remained there till 800 when the iconoclasts came to power. According to the tradition, one stormy night, the sarcophagus disappeared from Constantinople and on 13th July 800 reached Rovinj coast. From the shore it was taken by a young man who managed to pull it with his two heifers uphill to the church of St Francis.
The appearance of the sarcophagus was taken as a miracle, so the inhabitants started worshiping St Euphemia as their patroness.
TOWN SQUARE
It is interesting for its beauty and peculiarities. On one side there is a Venetian style building and, on the other side there are buildings that take us back to the past, to the artistic architectonic circle of Trieste-Austrian style. The Town Clock, from the middle of the 19th century, with the Venetian lion – symbol of Serenissima – was situated on the tower of the town gate near Califfi palace. There is also, relatively new fountain, built in 1959 in which numerous pigeons bathe and drink.
In summer at least, boats regularly transport many tourists from the little mole to the most beautiful and biggest Rovinj islands – St Catherine and St Andrew.
On Marshal Tito Square the Native Museum is situated in a beautiful baroque building from the end of the 17th century (formerly property of the Califfi family).
From Town Square we come in (after Grisia Lane) the most representative street in Rovinj. It is, by all means, Carera – urbanised in the second half of the 17th century. Today it is the busiest street with many little shops placed into the old entrances, wine cellars and archways.
In the central part of the street there is the baroque church of St Karlo Borromeo. Today it is a private gallery. Some fifty meters further, on Campitelli Square, Milossa palace is situated, built in the 18th century – today it is the seat of the Italian Union in Rovinj.
Carera ends on Lokva Square where is the oldest sacral building in Rovinj – the Chapel of Holy Trinity, from which we can move towards many resorts of the southern coast, towards the post-office or health centre, towards Pula, Pazin or Poreč.
THE NORTHERN PART
If we start from Town Square to the north, towards Valdibora Square, we’ll see the town green market and fish-market. We’ll also pass the building raised in 1854, then called Rubineum, and today used as the theatre by National Open University of Rovinj. Formerly, there were fish-market and the butcher’s shop on the ground floor and, on the first floor there was a big hall that was re-arranged into the theatre. From 1928 the theatre carries the name of the famous Rovinj comedian – Antonio Gandusio, who worked between two wars and died in 1951.
Today there is still a shop on the ground floor and the theatre on the first floor. In front of us the northern town port opens. On its coast there is a big car park where formerly, not so long ago, bauxite was loaded.
As we go on, we come across Vianelli villa from the beginning of the 20th century, recently restored, which captures by its beauty and simplicity.
THE AQUARIUM of the Ruder Boskovic Institute
It is situated at number 5, G. Paliaga Street. It was opened in 1891 as Zoologische Station des berliner Aquarius and belongs to the oldest institutions of that kind in the world.
The aquarium is opened for the visitors and abounds in the samples of the local submarine life.
Behind the aquarium, once the stone was taken out and, in 1817 the parish bought the ground for burying those who died of typhoid fever.
Further away there is Mirna – the fish-can factory (formerly, it was the glass factory and distillery). On the very coast, there are buildings of the former railway station which connected Rovinj with inland already in 1876. The railway was dissolved as unprofitable in 1966.
THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY AND CHURCH OF ST FRANCIS
At number 36, in De Amicis Street there is the Franciscan Monastery and the church of St Francis. The construction of this beautiful baroque building started in 1702. The explosive mine was used for the first time to drill a big monastery cistern. The church was finished in 1710 and was dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. Behind the main altar, there is round choir for the monks. On the left there is the entrance to the monastery and the sacristy and, on the right there is the entrance to the Chapel of Immaculate Conception.
The other two altars, which are situated in the nave, are dedicated to St Peter from Alcantara and to the Crucifixion of Jesus. The altar picture of Madonna with the saints Peter from Alcantara and Anthony of Padua is very interesting. It is the work of G. Ventura from the beginning of the 18th century.
It is necessary to mention the altar picture showing Crucified Jesus with the saints in the style of Palma Junior. The organ, built by Eduard Kunad, was placed in 1882, four years after the monastery had been widened. In front of the church entrance the big stone cross was placed in 1855. Before that, the cross was in front of the Church of Holy Trinity. On the entrance into the monastery, on the mosaic floor, the Franciscan greeting is put: PAX ET BONUM.
The monastery library contains a collection of over 8.000 valuable books. Some of them are from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and they are real rarities.
In the small museum of the monastery two icons of Madonna in the Byzantine style are kept; one of them is from the 16th century; the other one is dated 1686. Both are by the unknown authors. There are some other works of art: the portrait in oil of the prelates dated 1763, depiction of the Holy Family from the end of the 16th century in Tintoretto and Carpaccio style, the small marble statue of Virgin Mary with the Child in Gothic-Renaissance style, the marble statue of St Geronimo of baroque making from the 17th century, more chalices, the silver, the crosses and gold-plated relics.
By the St Francis Church and the Franciscan Monastery there is a building where the elementary school Vladimir Nazor is situated, built in period from 1819 – 1840. In that part there are also the fish-can factory Mirna and a new road – town entry from Trieste or the Ucka tunnel.
From 1898 Rovinj graveyard (formerly on the south-west slope of the Old Town near the church) is situated on the region called Laste and is famous for hundred – year old cypresses, today protected. On the graveyard there is also the St Saviour Church, with a beautiful Doric colonnade stretching on the left and on the right.
THE Prim. Dr.Martin Horvat HOSPITAL
The orthopaedic hospital is a beautiful complex situated in lush vegetation of Muccia peninsula. It was inaugurated on May 22, 1888 as the maritime sanatorium Maria Theresa, named by Austro-Hungarian Archduchess. She herself opened it, escorted by Archduke Karl Ludwig. From the first years of this century to the beginning of the First World War the Hospital was the Vienna City hospital. In the years from 1906 to 1908 it was widened on the initiative of Vienna mayor Luegero. Later on, it was transformed into the hospital for orthopaedic surgery.
Further, towards the north-west, rich fields stretch and, by the sea, a beautiful rocky beach all to the Saline bay, to naturist camp “Valalta”, to the entry of the most beautiful natural fjord on the Adriatic Coast – Lim Fjord. There, the Rovinj area ends.
THE SOUTHERN PART
If we go from Town Square towards the south-east, walking along the most beautiful coast, our view is captured by the southern port full of boats, among which batana – autochthonous boat – is distinguishing. Across the new Marina break-water that protects numerous yachts, the Punta Corrente Forest Park spreads in all its beauty. On the very cape, facing west, Kamenolom (stone-pit) which provided stone for many Venetian palaces.
On the way from the port to Marina once twelve small shipyards were arranged in a row, as people in Rovinj were famous shipwrights of batanas, braceras and leuts long time ago. On Brodogradiliste Square there’s Center for Visual Arts “Batana” which engaged cultural-artistic activities on the field of photography and visual arts on the national and international level.
Passing by the Tobacco Factory we cannot avoid looking at its beautifully reconstructed buildings. Tobacco manufacturing has many year tradition as the tobacco manufacturing workshop was built already in 1872.
Nearby the taxi and bus stations, on Lokva Square, the oldest preserved sacral building in Rovinj is situated.
THE CHAPEL OF HOLY TRINITY
The Romanesque Church of Holy Trinity is the most important and the most preserved building. The building is heptagon by its form. The outer structure in its inside contains the round space with seven niches and a cupola. In itself it contains all characteristics of the transition from the Romanesque art into the Gothic one. The shimmering light that breaks in through three outer openings, gives the suggestive and monumental composition to this small harmonious place. The real jewel of the autochthonous art represents the well-preserved early Romanesque transenna depicting scenes of Golgotha with the figures of Madonna, Magdalene, St Peter, St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.
Today, there are no services held in the church but it is transformed into the Art Gallery.
THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY
It is situated in Carducci Street; we don’t know the date of building but we know that the church was consecrated in 1487. From the inscription Scip. Benz. P. 1584 – Scipione Benzona Podesta 1584 – with the aristocratic coat of arms, we read that the church was reconstructed in 1584. It is visible on the inscription above the door and façade window that the church was renovated and the ceiling was arranged. Before that it had been extended by adding space behind the altar.
On the altar there is glassed picture of Virgin Mother with the Child from the 16th century, an old work on wooden board with gold-plated background and frame.
In the church especially valuable are the late baroque engraved pews and many votive gifts hanging on the walls important for the Rovinj maritime past. According to the tombstone on the floor, countess Elisabetta Angelini – Califfi (known as the mother of the poor) was buried in that church on December 13, 1762.
Nearby, there is a beautiful building, surrounded by vegetation, built in 1913, designed by the Trieste architect L. Braidotti. Today, it is the seat of Croatian and Italian grammar schools. A few antique amphoras and Roman epigraphs are deposited there.
There are also some other important buildings in the area today: Trade School Eugen Kumičić (in 1854 the first kindergarten was opened in it), the Health Center, the Police, the Fire Station, the Post-office and, in a deep shade of pines, the Old People’s Home called Domenico Pergolis named by the benefactor who donated the building to the town in 1899.
We shouldn’t forget the library Matija Vlačić Ilirik situated in Maria Antonia villa in D. Pergolis street with 21.000 books. There are also HKD Franjo Glavinić and Matica Hrvatska – the branch of Rovinj.
In the surroundings of Rovinj there are some other beautiful churches although some of them are dilapidating.
Recommendation to all visitors of Rovinj is to enjoy in natural beauties; in olives, strawberry trees, cypresses, pines, Spanish broom, oaks, ash-trees,spruce, in various birds and beautiful small places, the nearest Rovinj neighbours: Bale, Kanfanar, Žminj.
GRISIA
Grisia: both the name of the street and the term denoting a unique one-day art republic in the world of figurative art…
Grisia: gallery-streets, the most democratic exhibition space in our homeland and in the broader area…
Grisia: certainly among the most recognisable brands of the old Rovinj; a picturesquely paved and winding street, playfully shimmering in the waterfall of stone stairs.
The annual art exhibition has been organised in this place since the summer of 1967, on an August Sunday. The story about of artworks under the clear skies-on the walls, on the doors, shutters and in the lobbies, is the history and the ancient history of curiosity, stubbornness and perseverance of the creative mind, as well as the confirmation of a creating eros that keeps seeking new challenges time and again, and going towards another man, towards a space where and with which an artist can and wants to communicate.
More about Grisia on the Museum’s Website.
THE MUSEUM OF THE TOWN OF ROVINJ
It is situated in the baroque palace Califfi. It was founded in 1954 on the initiative of then young artists. With their donations they formed the first holdings that would later on, through buyings up and other donations, enlarge into a permanent exhibition of Croatian contemporary art.
Throughout the year, in the Museum, one-man and group exhibitions of the contemporary art are organised as well as other museum exhibitions. Besides this rich exhibition activity, the museum is engaged in archeology, history and etnography.Permanent exhibitions are open for visitors:
- OLD MASTERS (painting and sculpture works of Italian and German artists from 15th to 19th century – Padovanino, M. Ricci, A. Zanchi, C. Maratta, G. F. Waldmüller)
- TRADITIONAL FISHING TOOLS
- ETHNOGRAPHIC COLLECTION (old bakery, old Rovinj kitchen)
- NUMISMATIC COLLECTION (roman and byzantine money)
- ARCHEOLOGICAL COLLECTION (from prehistory to Middle Ages)
- CROATIAN CONTEMPORARY ART
- MEMORIAL COLLECTION OF VILKO SEFEROV PAINTINGS
MINI MUSEUM HÜTTEROTT
Open museum collection dedicated to the Hütterott family With the aim of developing and motivating as quality tourist service as well as the development of a new tourist image based on cultural tourism, the Town Assembly supported the suggestion to rearrange the former forest ranger’s cottage in the park Punta Corrente to include both public interest for the museum collection and private and commercial interests which would develop new tourist services in our town.
The Town of Rovinj thus for the first time got a mini museum dedicated to family Hütterott, the owners of the park wood and of the info point dedicated to climbing and bird-watching at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.
In the forest ranger’s cottage, besides cultural contents, one can rent bikes, organise climbing courses on the rocks of the Punta Montauro as well as participate in bike excursions all the way to the ornithological reservation where one can observe birds and other animal species with the professional guidance of Natura Histrica.
The museum collection was elaborated and set by professors Marino Budicin and Aldo Kliman.
MUSEUM “THE BATANA HOUSE”
“The Batana House” tells the story about batana, the wooden fishing flat bottom vessel and the favourite traditional vessel of the inhabitants of Rovinj. Batana has been constructed for decades by local naval carpenters and caulkers, daily used by local fishermen and owned by numerous Rovinj’s families. Batana has become the main symbol of the town, so that the Town dedicated a Museum to it! It is not an ordinary museum, but the first museum in the Mediterranean dedicated to a fishing vessel!
The museum is laid out in a modern way using multimedia, with film and slide projections, models, music, excellent photographs, interactive exhibits, and the original objects donated by the inhabitants of Rovinj. in an interesting and interactive way. In an interesting and interactive way, the visitors of the museum learn about the origins of batana, its typology and constituent parts, its makers and caulkers, the secrets of the process of its construction, about historic Rovinj’s shipyards and about the beauty of everyday life in Rovinj and its inhabitants and their rich musical, linguistic, gastronomic, and other heritage.
Throughout the year, this eco museum organises numerous programmes (publishing, film, heritage, pedagogic, creative), with special cultural and tourist contents and attractions offered during the summer season: costumed guidance (guides dressed in traditional costumes of Rovinj), and creative workshops about fishing nets and plaiting the demijohns. Their main objective is making each visitor a transmitter of the experience of live maritime tradition of Rovinj thus becoming part of a wider context of protection, valorisation, and presentation of maritime heritage of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
The Museum souvenir shop works with the same mission. Its rich offer of autochthonous souvenirs has been created for various target groups of visitors: bigger and smaller models of batana, the most beautiful cook book in the Adriatic – recipe book from the Batana House, beautiful postcards, posters, graphics, ceramic figurine of batana …
MUSEUM OF THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY
The Franciscan Monastery and the church of St. Frances can be described as a centre of the north-eastern part of the town of Rovinj, an urban identity that was for the main part defined at the times of baroque and historicism. A slightly isolated position on a hilltop and the recognisable bell-tower make this architectonic sacral complex merely a modest and discreet visual counterpoint to the parochial church of St. George and Euphemia, whose vertical of the bell-tower with the statue of the Rovinj’s martyr atop dominated the playful, picturesque outline of the town. Franciscan monasteries are widely known as centres of spirituality, culture and education, but also as places where a rich and various cultural and artistic heritage is being systematically preserved.
Many Franciscan collections in Croatia, such as the ones on the islands of Košljun or Visovo, by their genealogies continue the traditions of the so-called “curiosity cabinets”-and the first museums of the 19th century.
The first ones have their roots in the period of Renaissance, and their main objective was gathering objects with stories interesting only locally that used to attract visitors by their magnetic peculiarity which is illustrated in their titles. On the other hand, other museums are based on historical and scientific authenticity of objects, which influences their evaluation and attracts a more educated audience.
According to memories of the initiators and founders of the Franciscan monastery in Rovinj, friars Ilar Luksic and Veseljko Grubisic and the current guardian brother Job Mikolic, the idea of founding the monastery museum came to light in the 1970s. On the ground floor of the east wing, right next to the sacristy, in the space for servers where hosts used to be baked, friars set up the monastery collection of works of art and objects of applied art, mainly with originally liturgical purpose. During its formation and valorisation, art historians Cvito Fiskovic and Ante Sonje helped them with their professional advice.
The conservators of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia found the collection in such a state. Listing sacral inventory in 2001, they systematically documented its holdings, as well as the inventory of the church and the monastery. The anniversary of the founding of the monastery celebrated on 4 October 2002 on the festivity of St. Francis was a good occasion for the wholehearted help and advocating of the Town of Rovinj and numerous donators. The spaces of the collection were appropriately renovated, and the exhibits were modernised, with due respect to Franciscan collecting tradition and modesty vows.
We would like to single out the following exhibits:
Main altar
Built of marble. Belongs to the tabernacle- type of altars, the central part has the form of tempietto, it is flanked by semi-circularly finished passages. Above the altar hangs a sumptuous crown of the canopy, the only preserved part of the older main altar that was entirely built of polychrome and gilded walnut wood.
Side altars are situated in the nave of the church, on the wall surfaces on both sides of the triumphal arch. The northern altar on the side of the Gospel is dedicated to St. Peter from Alcantara, and the southern to Jesus’ Crucifixion. The altars are identically composed with a marble pedestal and low predella, and altar paintings framed by stucco frames in the upper area.
Paintings
The painting representing the crucified Jesus, under whom are figures of St. Francis, St. Didacus and St. Bernardine of Siena, and at the very bottom are portrait busts of the donors, is a work by the unknown master of the Venetian Seicento, from the circle of Palma the Younger. An altar painting on the northern side altar is an interesting work of the unknown Venetian painter from the 18th century. It represents the figure of Blessed Virgin Mary the Immaculate standing on the half-moon and a ball coiled by a snake. The figure of St. Anthony of Padua on the left side of the painting bows to Our Lady, while the figure of St. Peter from Alcantara stands to the right embracing the cross, the subject of Christ’s Passion whose big reverer he was. On the pages of the open book situated down right is the writing with the name Giuseppe Ventura, quoted in some texts as the author of the paintings, which was not confirmed by researchers of Baroque painting. In the pedestal of the altar of St. Peter of Alcantara are preserved remnants of Candida, the saint and martyr from Carthage, while the pedestal of the altar of Jesus’ Crucifixion holds the reclining statue of St. Anthony of Padua.
Paintings on the walls of the sanctuary represent scenes and characters of interesting Franciscan iconography. In the central spot, in the conch of the apse, is the representation of the rhapsodic character of St. Francis of Assisi, performed a secco, in tempera, underneath which is the text of Francis’ famous Ode to Creatures in fresco technique. On lateral walls of the sanctuary are busts of the evangelists and their symbols, and the characters of St. Clara and St. Anthony facing each other, and the Portuguese queen St. Elisabeth and St. Louis, French king from the 13th century. The presence of the latter alludes to female and male Tertiaries whose renowned representatives they are. The apse was painted in 1928 by Carlo Donati from Verona, which is testified by documents preserved in the monastery archives. The painting of the sanctuary was entrusted to Rovinj’s painter Antonio Macchi.
Equipment
The lower part of the semicircular apse contains massive wooden stalls with stations of the Way of the Cross, while the organ built in 1908 by the Riegel brothers from Jagendorf in Austria leans on the back of the main altar.
In the church are several statues of Our Lady the Immaculate witnessing the exceptional Franciscan admiration of Madonna. The statue of St. Joseph of Tyrolese provenience used to belong to the fraternity of the same name that used to be linked to the Franciscan church in Rovinj.