The crucifix and the stone
The gambler''s story, told here for seven centuries.
Roberta F. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Viktar Palstsiuk — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden — CC BY 2.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Rijeka''s cathedral, and the **only round church** of its kind in Croatia — a circular domed building rather than the rectangular nave of every other cathedral in the country. The Jesuits began it in **1638**, taking its plan from **Santa Maria della Salute** in Venice. Construction ran over a century and was never entirely finished — the planned tower was never built. Inside, the circular space under the dome is wider than the entrance suggests, ringed by baroque altars in coloured marble. Note: its best-known feature is a **thirteenth-century crucifix** carrying an old local story. A losing gambler is said to have thrown a stone at the crucified Christ in 1296, whereupon the stone bled and the earth swallowed the man. The crucifix hangs above the high altar, with a stone beneath it said to be that stone. The story is folklore, but it is part of the city''s identity and has been told here for seven centuries. The cathedral survived the heavy bombing that destroyed much of Rijeka in the Second World War.
The gambler''s story, told here for seven centuries.
Wider under the dome than the entrance suggests.
Never built — the cathedral is unfinished against its original design.
Grivica 11, Rijeka
The centre is small and covered in two hours. Its axis is the **Korzo**, the main pedestrian promenade, carrying the **City Tower** with its baroque gate, clock and double-headed Habsburg eagle. Through the tower you enter **Stari Grad**, the small medieval core, holding the **Roman Arch** — the remains of a third-century gate and the oldest structure in the city. Then the round **St Vitus'' Cathedral** on the slope, and the **Governor''s Palace** with the maritime museum. On the water is **Molo Longo**, a two-kilometre quay. ⚠ Rijeka is **not a monument city** — its value is in its urban fabric and early twentieth-century architecture rather than a list of sites.
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