Spalato, and the dimensions are generally so nearly the same as to
suggest some common original design. S. Pietro Vecchio is considered to
be the oldest church in Zara. It is now desecrated, but was used as a
sacristy to the fourteenth-century church of S. Andrea, belonging to the
Fishers' Confraternity, the sixteenth-century apse of which projected
into the nave as far as the first pillar. It was cleared out by order of
the Central Commission in 1886. It is about 38 ft. long by 19 ft. broad,
and is built of ancient fragments with very little architectural
character. One of the two columns bears a Roman inscription, and both
have crosses cut in them. One of the caps is a damaged antique; the
other is an antique base upside down; neither column has any base. The
church is an irregular rectangle in plan, divided into two naves which
end in apses by two pillars and a pier. The pilasters are not upright,
the arches are deformed, and the two altar niches have half-cupola
vaults on a rectangular plan, with arches thrown across the corners.
There are two original doors, both built up. The pier between the two
apses has a round-arched niche in it. The church is mentioned in 918 in
the will of Prior Andrea.

There was a cathedral here in very early times, referred to in a will of
908 as S. Anastasia. It was originally S. Pietro, and the dedication was
changed when the relics of S. Anastasia which S. Donato brought from
Constantinople and placed in the church of the Holy Trinity were
transferred to the cathedral. This church was destroyed by the Venetians
in 1202, but probably portions of it were worked up in the new building
which the Crusaders are said to have erected as a votive church after
the pope had excommunicated them all for the sack of Zara. This seems,
however, a legend, since the new building was not consecrated till May
27, 1285, the Archbishop Lorenzo Periandro officiating, assisted by the
Metropolitan of Spalato and the suffragan bishops of both dioceses. On
the vault of the ciborium and on the jamb of the main door are
inscriptions, dated respectively 1332 and 1324, recording their erection
by "Joannis de Bvtvane, archiep: Jadren." Certain portions show by their
style that additions and alterations were made, still later. The length
is 170 ft. and the width 65 ft.

The facade has three doors, and is divided by pilaster strips which
emphasise the width of the nave; at either side of the central door is a
shallo