CHURCH OF ST. JOHN IN THE KLIS FIELD

The Church of St. John and an archaelogical site are below Klis, that is in the southeast part of the Klis field. The church of St. John is first mentioned in the middle of the 14th century, and since it is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron of the Šubić Bribirski family, its construction is connected to the period when these dukes ruled over Klis (13th and 14th century). According to a legend, the church of St. John was the oldest parish church in Klis. In the Middle Age, the church had two titulars – St. John and St. Euphemia.
It is a one-boat church with a semi-circle apse on the eastern side and an entrance on the western side. Around the church there is a medieval graveyard fenced with a wall which has not been archaeologically explored. In the larger area around the church, especially towards north and northwest, there are numerous remains of antique ceramics, tiles and polished stone slabs. Taking into consideration these findings and many antique spolia from the church, it is probable that the church’s location was on a site of an earlier antique residential-commercial complex, a couple of which were in the area of the Klis field. Also, the titular churches of St. John and St. Euphemia indicate the existence of an early Christian sacral object. The date of construction: from the 2nd to 15th century.