According to an ancient legend, St. Euphemia, a 15-year-old girl and a passionate Christian, fell under cruel torture by Roman Emperor Diocletian. Even when thrown into a cage with fierce lions, she managed to survive. The wild hungry beasts didn’t seem to notice Euphemia in front of them. Then the emperor ordered to behead the poor maiden, put her body in a sarcophagus, and throw it into the open sea. More than 500 years had passed when the sarcophagus with the relics was cast ashore of the Croatian town of Rovinj. Around the same time, the town saw numerous miraculous healings, for which Euphemia was considered the local patroness, and a church was built in her honor in the very heart of the Old Town on the site of an ancient church of St. George. It happened at the end of the 10th century.

The new church was named the Church of St. George and St. Euphemia. However, the number of pious pilgrims who annually visited the main shrine of Rovinj grew at lightning speed. To accommodate everyone, they needed a more spacious temple. And the townsfolk had increased significantly since the 10th century.

In 1725, the construction of a new church designed by renowned Italian architect Giovanni Dozzi began. The baroque church was being built for more than ten years. After another five years, three altars were added to decorate the interior. In 1754, a magnificent organ was installed, whose great sounds you can still hear today. The final look, which appears to the eyes of today’s tourists, the temple acquired at the end of the 19th century, when the facade of the medieval shrine was almost completely rebuilt.

Nowadays, the Church of St. Euphemia is a delightful landmark of temple architecture, over 50 meters long and 30 meters wide. The tall, slender bell tower, reminding a campanile of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, is crowned with a graceful statue of St. Euphemia. The bell tower offers a fantastic view of the historical center of Rovinj and the unlimited expanse of the Adriatic Sea.