2 Best Sights in Southern Dalmatia, Croatia

This 18th-century Baroque church on Luža Square was built on the foundation of an earlier church that had been destroyed in a fire. Of particular note is the silver statue on the high altar of St. Blaise holding a model of Dubrovnik, which was the only thing that survived the fire. It is paraded around town each year on February 3, the Day of St. Blaise.

Legend says that when Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked on Lokrum Island, he vowed to show his thanks to God for saving his life by building a cathedral on the spot; locals convinced him to move his plans to Dubrovnik instead. The present structure was completed in 1713 in Baroque style after the original was destroyed in the 1667 earthquake. The interior contains a number of notable paintings, including a large polyptych above the main altar depicting the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, attributed to Titian. The treasury displays 138 gold and silver reliquaries, including the skull of St. Blaise in the form of a bejeweled Byzantine crown and an arm and leg of the saint, likewise encased in decorated gold plating.