Broken Stones – Forum/Donat/Kalelarga

The Roman Forum was not just the central square of ancient Zadar, but also a place where the city’s daily life unfolded. Established in the first centuries of our era, it was a meeting point and the center of social life, shaping the rhythm of the city and its public space. The Forum was not merely a collection of stone structures, but a stage for public life, where interests met, decisions were made, and the fates of the inhabitants of Roman Zadar were shaped. The spatial logic of the Forum laid the foundation for an urban layout that would outlive empires and changes in power.

On those same foundations, the Church of St. Donatus was built in the early Middle Ages. With its circular form and restrained monumentality, it appears calm and composed, standing out as a space of tranquility amid the city. Stone blocks from the Roman Forum were incorporated into its walls, literally transferring ancient heritage into a new era. Donatus does not erase the past, but includes it – transforming the Roman public space into the spiritual center of the medieval city and a powerful symbol of continuity.

Alongside the Forum stretched the central city axis, the Roman decumanus, whose line has persisted to this day in Kalelarga. It is not just a street, but a path through time. Roman citizens, medieval merchants, Venetian administrators, and today’s passersby have walked it. Kalelarga is still a space of movement, encounters, and everyday life, a place where the city is not merely observed, but lived. In this walk, between the Forum, Donatus, and the contemporary city, Zadar demonstrates its rare ability not to keep the past behind glass but to weave it into its own present