Byzantine origin; on
that of S. Andrea were a cloister and church of the sixth century; and
on the hill whence the Tegethoff monument now looks over the harbour
the double basilica of S. Michele in Monte, partly dating from the
seventh century and partly from the eleventh. The grave of Salomon, king
of Hungary, who died here in 1087 and was canonised shortly after, whose
body had been venerated in the cathedral from the fifteenth century, was
then found. The sarcophagus is now in the museum.

The original cathedral appears to have been contemporary with that of
Parenzo, but it was restored in the ninth century. In 1884 the floor of
the presbytery was lowered, and near the high-altar, at a depth of two
feet, Roman fragments and ninth-century carvings were found, with an
inscription of the fifteenth century; lower still were Roman
inscriptions and sculptures, and then a semicircular mosaic floor of 13
ft. radius, with a lily border on a black and red ground (grey, yellow,
and white tessera? also being used), with an inscription mentioning
Donatian, and small medallions with cross and square. Under the first
step of the demolished stairs was a second much damaged mosaic
resembling the early one at Parenzo. It may be seen by lifting a
trap-door, A bronze medal of Agrippina was found at the same time. Three
rectangular windows were also discovered, a large one in the centre and
two smaller towards the sides, the former filled with a pierced slab now
preserved in the presbytery. The triumphal arch is round, with early
caps and impost mouldings; other early caps and columns are visible in
the walls of the choir in hollows made to expose them. The theory is
that there was a confessional behind the apse instead of below it, of
which these fragments are the remains. Encrusted in the outer wall of
the south aisle is an inscription which runs thus: "In the year 857,
fifth indiction, under Ludovicus, Emperor of Italy, Handegis was
elected and consecrated bishop on Whit Sunday, and occupied the seat
for five years." It is thought that he was the restorer of the building.
Some of the ninth-century carvings are in the museum. Several small
windows high in the nave walls still retain the slabs pierced with
ninth-century patterns, and two unbroken ciborium or baptistery
archivolts still exist, one in the courtyard of the Beata Vergine della
Miscricordia, and the other in the Piazza S. Giovanni, where it is made
up into a little shrine wi