MUSICAL SUGGESTIONS

22 - Parish Church if San Giorgio and baptistery of San Giovanni Battista

The Baroque church with its independent bell tower and a baptistery dominates the promontory above the city of Piran. The slope of the promontory with the complex of religious buildings is supported by arches. Today’s church building is on the site of a pre-existing tumbledown Gothic one, which was rebuilt after 1595 before being completed and consecrated in 1637. The duomo we see today is the largest church in Piran and is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, San Giorgio, who, according to legend, saved the city from a furious storm. Part of the rich collection and the sacred objects of the church are exhibited in the San Giorgio parish museum. Among them is a silver statue of San Giorgio on a horse and a reliquary in the form of a leg. The lapidary and the archaeological grotto are also worth a visit.

The bell tower was built later, in the 17th-century, and the Venetian dominion is reflected in a particular fashion in its forms, conceived following the example of the bell tower of San Marco in Venice. Together with the rotary statue of the Archangel Michael, placed at the top of the building and turning with the wind, it is 46.45 metres high. From the top of the bell tower, which can be climbed, you can take in a wonderful view of the town and the Gulf of Trieste. The octagonal baptistery of San Giovanni Battista was built during restructuring work in 1650. The most ancient element in the baptistery is a Roman tombstone from the 1st century, transformed into a baptismal font. The most famous native of Piran, Giuseppe Tartini, was baptised right here, on 8th April 1692.

Info: www.portoroz.si