The carved portal
Two lions, columns and a figure of St Mark above.
Karl Pippich — Public domain · rene boulay — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Javier Losa — CC BY 2.0
The town''s cathedral, standing at the highest point of the peninsula where the main street meets the central square. It was built between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries from local **Korčula stone**, by local and Italian masons. The style is transitional: Gothic in its structure and Renaissance in its detail, which is what makes it interesting — the turn between two ages is visible in one building. Its most important external feature is the **main portal**: densely carved, with a figure of St Mark above it and two lions carrying columns at its sides. The carving is the work of **Bonino of Milan**, and among the best surviving Dalmatian Gothic sculpture. On the facade are strange details most people miss: **carved creatures** — men with animal bodies, monsters, and an elephant — cut into the corners by the masons, with no agreed explanation. Inside is an altarpiece by **Tintoretto**, a timber ceiling, and a space narrower than the exterior suggests. Note: **the bell tower can be climbed** by a narrow, steep stone stair, with a view over the town''s roofs and the channel.
Two lions, columns and a figure of St Mark above.
Men with animal bodies and an elephant, on the corners.
A narrow stone stair, and a view over the roofs and channel.
St Mark''s Square, old town, Korčula
A **sword dance** performed in Korčula since the **sixteenth century**, one of very few European sword dances still living. It tells of a battle between two kings, White and Black, over a princess, danced by performers fighting with real swords to a brass band. Its origin is Spanish-Mediterranean (from *morisca*, «of the Moors»), it reached the Adriatic through Venice, then died out in its homelands and survived here. ⚠ It is traditionally performed on **29 July**, the feast of St Theodore, the town''s patron, and in summer there are regular **performances for visitors** at an open-air stage near the land gate. ⚠ The tourist performances are shorter than the full version but use the same dancers — a local society rather than a professional troupe.
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