Basilica of the Holy Family
It was built according to the conceptual design of architect Viktor Vrečko, who won the design competition eleven years ago. It is 45 metres long, 34 metres wide and about fifteen metres high, with a floor area of 1,100 square metres and around 650 seats. It has seven entrances, three sacristies and even a space for recording religious celebrations.
The first thing that catches the eye on the oval building is the enormous portal, fifteen metres high and five metres wide, with large doors at its base. Everything is made of metal and covered with "rays" symbolising the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The extensive mosaics and frescoes covering the walls were designed by one of the world's best-known sacred artists, the Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, who spent several weeks decorating the walls with a team of 27 people from his "Centro Aletti".
All the work on the basilica is permeated with prayer and fellowship; deep symbolism is present everywhere and everything has its meaning. The walls are covered with numerous mosaics, at the centre of which is Jesus Christ Pantocrator (Greek: Ruler of All, Almighty), flanked by Our Lady and St. John the Baptist. Around them are St. Joseph, St. Peter and St. Paul, the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the martyrs of Salona and the patron saints of Split St. Domnius and St. Anastasius, St. Jerome the Dalmatian, St. Lucy, St. Cecilia, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. John Paul II, St. Mother Teresa, St. Nikola Tavelić, St. Mark of Križevci, St. Leopold Mandić, Bl. Osanna of Kotor, Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified Petković and Bl. Ivan Merz. The choice of saints around the Pantocrator represents the universal, the Croatian and the local Dalmatian Church. Dalmatia is also represented by its traditional "chalice", the bukara (a wooden wine jug), which Father Rupnik worked into the mosaic – if you look closely, you will find it near St. Leopold Mandić.