The stone sarcophagus
The saint''s remains, and the point of the whole story.
No machine-readable author provided. Andres rus assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0 · This Photo was taken by Miha Peče. Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author. I would much appreciate if you send me an email pc.osx.linux@gmail.com or write on my talk page, for — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Berthold Werner — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Berthold Werner — CC BY-SA 3.0
The largest baroque church in Istria, standing on the highest point of Rovinj, so you see it from every direction before you reach the town. Its **60-metre** tower was copied from the campanile in St Mark''s Square in Venice, and on its summit a copper figure of St Euphemia turns with the wind, working as a **weather vane** — a practical detail in a seafaring town. The story the church was built for runs as follows. St Euphemia was martyred at **Chalcedon** in 304 and her remains placed in a stone sarcophagus. Local tradition says the sarcophagus vanished from Constantinople in 800 during the destruction of icons, then **appeared floating in the sea off Rovinj** — and nobody could move it until a boy led it up the hill with two calves. The stone sarcophagus is still inside the church, and is the point of the visit. Note: **the tower can be climbed** by a steep, open internal **wooden stair** — not for anyone afraid of heights — and the view from the top over the red roofs and the archipelago is the best thing in Rovinj.
The saint''s remains, and the point of the whole story.
A steep wooden stair, and the best view in Rovinj.
Istria''s largest, and wider than the entrance suggests.
Top of the old town, Rovinj
Worth it if you are not afraid of heights — the view from the top is **the image Rovinj is known by**: packed red roofs falling to the sea on every side, and the archipelago of small islands in front of you. But be ready for it: the stair is **old timber and steeply pitched**, its treads open at the sides so you see beneath you, and the passage is narrow enough that people going up and down pass each other awkwardly at peak times. ⚠ **Unsuitable for anyone afraid of heights, for small children, or for anyone with knee trouble**, and there is no lift. ⚠ It closes in wind and rain without notice. Anyone who cannot climb will find a good free view from the **church terrace** itself and from the rocks below it.
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