St.Vitus' Church
Calvary
Kozala

Passing through the historic northern city gate beneath the bell tower of the former Jesuit church, and today cathedral Church of St. Vitus, you re-enter the Old Town. This elevated site in the then densely built urban surroundings was chosen for the building site of the church of St. Vitus, on the spot where a former smaller church of the same saint, patron saint of the city, was found. In their Counter-Reformation aspirations, the Jesuits decided to use the cult of the Miraculous Crucifix from the old church, which, according to the legend, started bleeding when a certain Petar Lončarić, angered by a gambling loss, threw a stone at it. The investment was made possible by the generous donation of Ursula von Thanhausen, a countess who donated her lands around Rijeka. The construction of the new church started in 1638 according to the design of the Jesuit architect G. Briani. He drew his inspiration, among other buildings, from the Santa Maria della Salute in Venice. As the investment surpassed the local resources, the building continued for a whole century, and was probably even never fully completed, if we are to judge from the surfaces on its facade that have never been covered in stone. A significant change to the design was brought in 1725, when the constructor B. Martinuzzi added a gallery to the church. An anecdote has it that this was due to the investors' wish not to mix the religious novices with the plebs, especially young girls, during liturgy. The interior of the church is a true Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk, a unity of style that perturbs the Early Gothic crucifix, imbedded in the middle of the main altar. The authors of the profuse marble Baroque sculptures in the interior are masters P. Lazzarini, A. Michelazzi and L. Pacassi. St. Vitus’ is a unique Baroque rotunda of such monumental dimensions built in Croatia. The church is the only remaining part of a once vast Jesuit complex that included a seminary and a college, but was demolished in the period between the two world wars. The portal of the College has been preserved, however, by being transferred to the deanery next to St. Vitus'. By the main portal of St. Vitus' a cannonball was built into the wall, accompanied by a humorous inscription in Latin, which reads:

ISTA DABAT GALLOS PVLSVRA HINC ANGLIA POMA

Its translation is as follows: This fruit was sent to us by England when it wanted to oust the Gauls from here. This inscription is a testimony of an episode in the Napoleonic wars from 1813. As it is a chronogram, the year can be deciphered by interpreting the larger letters as Roman numbers. The permanent exhibition of Jesuit heritage, mounted on the gallery, can be visited by appointment with the office of the cathedral.

Calvary-Kozala

As an alternative outing for those with more stamina and several hours extra free, the Ascent of the Calvary proposes itself as an option. Its starting point is easy to find – it is the northbound path originating from Žrtava Fašizma Street to the north of the cathedral. On your way up you will meet the remains of Baroque chapels of the Way of the Cross. The atmosphere is completed by the granite cubes and rustic stone carved steps. If you peep through some fences, you may detect several fine examples of summer residences built on the slopes of the Calvary Hill at the turn of the centuries. The very top of the Calvary has been devastated by the construction of skyscrapers, with the remaining parts of stone sculptures being the only remains of its original aspect. In addition to its typical realization in the spirit of Counter-Reformation, Catholic restoration, Rijeka Calvary is as well the Jesuit response to the far older pilgrimage attraction of the Franciscan monastery at Trsat and the Trsat stairs, its integral part. Those who do reach the top, below the skyscrapers, can have a look at the preserved remains of some parts of the Liburnian limes, a system of fortifications built in the late antiquity for protection of the inner part of the Roman Empire, extending from Rijeka (Tarsatica) to the north and enclosing strategic communications. From the top of the Calvary it is easy to reach the cemetery of Kozala, using the severe contours of the Votive Temple (catafalque symbols and candles) as points of orientation. This construction is the most important sacral construction in the 20th century Rijeka. The author of this modernist architecture deftly playing with purified Gothic elements is B. Angheben, a Rijeka architect between the two wars. The cemetery contains numerous mausoleums of historicist and Secession architecture and sculptures erected for noble families of Rijeka at the turn of the centuries.