Trogir is the smallest town centre on Dalmatian coast, shaped within the atmosphere of the antique metropolis Salona and the medieval town of Split. Exceptionally important for the Trogir is the founding of the women’s Benedictine monastery of St. Nicholas in 1064, the oldest monastery of the Benedictine Sisters in Dalmatian towns. The nucleus of the monastery develops in the harbour, next to the Lord's Gate and the small early mediaeval church of St. Domnius, outside the Trogir city walls. The founding of the monastery is connected with the activity of the Bishop John of Trogir (Ivan Trogirski) - a contemporary of the archbishop Lawrence of Split and the Kings Petar Krešimir IV, Zvonimir and Koloman - who was considered saint for the miracles which occurred during his life and after his death. Adjoined to St. Domnius, the original titular, is St. Nicholas - the patron of seafarers and travellers, whose cult became the subject for great religiosity in the whole Adriatic region. The monastery of the Benedictine Sisters has been among the most important church institutions in Trogir since its foundation until today and has for centuries evidenced the disappearance of other monasteries of the same order. This is the reason why women’s Benedictine monastery of St. Nicholas in Trogir is extremely important for the history of Croatian Church, equally for its continual presence from the 11th century as for its specific organisation and rules of a closed order. Fenced monastery complex within the town tissue represents a unique combination of different elements of town houses and towers, fortification walls and city gates, enclosed courtyards with porticos and the monastery church with the bell tower by Tripun Bokanić, a local master from the island of Brač. Incorporated in the courtyard, near the place where once Greek walls stood, is the only Greek inscription in Trogir which is considered the first document of the Trogir archives in stone. In the collection of the monastery there is a relief of the Greek God of Opportunity, Kairos (or Caerus) created after the model of the bronze sculpture by Lysippus. Along with the fragments of marble sarcophagus depicting the Achaean hero Achilles – a work by a workshop in Attica from the 3rd century – exposed are also parts of stone furniture from the early Christian church from the 6th century as well as a pre-Romanesque sculpture from the 9th century. By its quality there stand out the wooden crucifix by Paolo Veneziano from the 14th century, the altar polyptych of Our Lady with the Child and Saints, Our Lady with the Saints by Blaž Jurjev Trogiranin, the figures of saints by the Venetian painter Nicolò Grassi from the 18th century and numerous ceremonial objects, church garments, silver objects and manuscripts. The monastery is a real treasury of the history of art and historical heritage while in the library the "Vartal" by Pear Lucić was found, the oldest anthology of Croatian lyrics from the second half of the 15th century. This oldest women’s Benedictine monastery in Croatian territory with the continuity and tradition of closed order community of almost one millennium is precious heritage from the historical, monumental, culturological and spiritual standpoint. Vanja Kovačić
