The Church of St. Christopher

ST. CHRISTOPHER (SV. KRISTOFOR) – PATRON SAINT OF RAB

The Church of St. Christopher (Cro. Crkva sv. Kristofora) bearing the name of the patron saint of the Town of Rab was built on the highest place in the town, where the impressive tower is located, named after the same patron saint. The church used to be the centre of the very active Fraternity of St. Christopher (fraternitas batittorum), mentioned in the Middle Ages. It was completely abandoned until recently, with no roof or church inventory.

THE MUNICIPAL COLLECTION OF STONE MONUMENTS (CRO. LAPIDARIJ) IS EXHIBITED IN THE CHURCH

It was reconstructed at the end of the 1970s and today it hosts the municipal collection of stone monuments (lapidarij). It is a single-nave church with a rectangular ground floor and no prominent sanctuary and with a simple square doorway with a lintel on the facade, showing a Latin cross in relief. In the gable above the doorway, there is a circular space in the gable with obliquely cut panels, dating back to the 15th c. Due to the subsequent reconstruction, the church was raised by a metre. On the northern and western sides, respectively, there are two rectangular elongated windows with the window frames cut obliquely turned inwards and outwards, showing the peculiar architectural features of the 15th c. The church inventory is mostly lost, and the wooden carved relief of St. Christopher is kept at the Cathedral, the work of the sculptor Peter de Riboldis dating back to the mid 15th c.

VALUABLE STONE FRAGMENTS

The stone monument collection contains the fragments belonging to the periods of Antiquity, Early Christianity, Pre-Romanesque period, Romanesque period, Gothic period, Renaissance and more recent architecture, with pre-Romanesque church furniture, the inscription of the builder of the Church of St. John (Cro. Crkva sv. Ivana) and the tombstone of Andrija Aleši and the Cernotta family particularly worth mentioning.