Jun 04 2008
Croatian Small Boat License and Šibenik Cathedral
Tim and I went to Šibenik today to sit the small boat skipper license (voditelj brodice) examination at the Harbour Master’s (Lučka Kapetanija) office.
If you do not have a licence from home or if you have a licence that does not contain a VHF-licence, you need to sit a short oral test to get a B Category License of Competency - similar to the Recreational Skipper’s Ticket in Western Australia. Apparently as no such national licensing regime exists in the U.S., Americans wishing to charter a Croatian-flagged vessel may be required to sit the test.
The license is valid for boats up to 30 registered gross tonnes and for less than 12 people. It allows you to travel 3nm from the coast or islands - given that the islands are so close along the Croatian coast, this means you can cruise to nearly all of them.
Locations of the Harbour Masters’ Offices can be found here.
You need to bring:
a. 815 kuna.
b. 40 kuna in tax stamps (from the closest newspaper stand).
c. your passport.
d. 2 passport photographs.
Some subjects of the examination are:
a. Navigation.
b. Navigational lights.
c. Right of way.
d. VHF radio procedure.
Amazingly there is no practical examination. They print a handy study guide and the test can be taken in Croatian, English, German, and Italian.
The staff of the Šibenik office were very friendly and helpful - unlike some of the characters found in the Split office, with whom we have had problems before.
While waiting for the test, Tim showed me some of his old haunts in Šibenik - I had never spent time there though its only 30 minutes from Split. The old town was quiet but in many ways nicer than Split.
The centrepiece of Šibenik is the Cathedral of St. James (Katedrala sv. Jakova).
The idea of building a cathedral originated in 1298 when Šibenik was given its own diocese. The actual decision to build it was finalised in 1402, though construction did not begin until 1431 and with minor disruptions lasted until 1536. Not much has changed in Croatia - this is a typical construction schedule even today!
It was built on the city’s south-side, where a Romanesque church had stood. The cathedral’s construction began in Venetian Gothic style, and was completed in Tuscan Renaissance style, due to the change over the years of the main architect.
In 1441 Juraj Dalmatinac (George of Dalmatia) was elected architect. At the time he was living and studying art in Venice. He had done some work there on Saint Mark’s Cathedral. Juraj, a devotee of the Late (Venetian) Gothic style, decided to enlarged the original plans for the cathedral, adding a side nave and apses. By the time of his death in 1475 he had also put up the basic constructive elements for the building of the dome and enriched the cathedral with numerous sculptures.
After the his death, Nikola Firentinac (Nicholas of Florence) took over the cathedral’s construction. Sticking to Juraj’s basic plan he however continued the building in Renaissance style, completing the top parts of the cathedral: the dome, the sculpture of Saints Michael, James and Mark, the roof complex and the upper part of the facade. Following Firentinac’s death in 1505, construction continued under Venetian constructors and local craftsmen.
The roof and the dome of St James’ are unique in the world. Like all the other parts of the church, they were made exclusively from stone (i.e. no wooden beams or clay tiles), using the same dry wall techniques Juraj Dalmatinac used while building the apses and the sacristy. The stone slab roof of the central and lateral naves form a semicircular vault visible from the inside as well as from the outside.
The dome of the church was heavily damaged during the shelling of Šibenik in September 1991. Today it has been fully restored with no visible damage.
The cathedral was consecrated in 1555 and in 2000 was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
