Church of Our Lady of the Bell Tower and the municipal clock

Church of Our Lady of the Bell Tower and the municipal clock. Crkva Gospe od Zvonika i gradski sat. Only the English text (right) has been transcribed. To view the Croatian text (left), click on the marker image to enlarge and display it. , The little church built in the 6th century in the sentries' walkway above the Iron Gate of Diocletian's Palace was originally dedicated to St Theodore. In the 11th century it acquired an Early Romanesque bell tower, the oldest still preserved on the Croatian side of the Adriatic. Also from this period come fragments of a chancel screen with an inscription mentioning the city prior, Firminus, and his first and second wives, Magi and Brita, the donors. The icon of Our Lady of the Bell Tower of the 13th century, from which the church took its current name, is kept in the treasury of Split Cathedral. A steep external staircase leads up to the church, once climbed by the women of Split to make their vows before being delivered of child. A Romanesque tower is built adjacent to the Iron Gate facing the square (Pjaca), and in the 16th century a Renaissance municipal clock was installed in it.