The Vault in St Mary’s Church Tower in Zadar in the Context of the Earliest European Vaults with Diagonal Arches

Svod zvonika crkve sv. Marije u Zadru jedan je od vrlo ranih primjera svodova s dijagonalnim lukovima u europskom graditeljstvu koji se smatraju važnom razvojnom etapom prema gotičkom svodu s rebrima. Važnost zadarskoga svoda prelazi granice Hrvatske, i to ne samo zbog pouzdane rane datacije, na koju je upozorio već I. Petricioli, nego i zbog izvornog rješenja koje koristi elemente antičke tradicije radi stvaranja reprezentativnog prostora.The vault in St Mary’s church tower in Zadar is one of the very early examples of the vaults with diagonal arches in the history of European architecture. They are generally considered an important stage towards Gothic ribbed vaults. The significance of this vault is beyond the local Croatian context not only because of its early dating pointed out by I. Petricioli but also because of an original solution drawing from the ancient tradition in order to create a representative space