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Another famous Croat was Juraj Dalmatinac (Georgius Mattei Dalmaticus, known as Giorgio Orsini in Italy, 15th century, born in Zadar) who built the Loggia dei Mercanti and the portal of St. Francis Church in Ancona. His epoch represents the golden age of Croatian medieval art. His most beautiful achievement is the Cathedral of St. Jacob (Jakov) in Sibenik, the top monument of Croatian culture, reflecting in a sense the character of urban life of that time, and certainly a sculptural chef d’oeuvre (shelled during the Greater Serbian aggression in 1991).

The entire building is composed solely of stone elements (no wood or bricks). Especially interesting are 74 portraits of his fellow-citizens carved in stone, surprisingly realistic for that time. It should be noted that the city of Sibenik was built in the time of King Kresimir IV (11th century).

Here is is a drawing of Sibenik’s Cathedral appearing in Faust Vrancic’s famous book Machinae Novae (Venice, 1595).