St Ambrose in Nin

Next to the city gates of Nin was the Benedictine monastery of St. Ambrose. During the demolition of the medieval church of St. Michael, which was located on the site of a Roman temple, fragments of the architrave of the altar rail were found, decorated with braided ornamentation and with a carved inscription mentioning the Croatian duke Branimir (879-892) and abbot Teodobert. The inscription reads: «During the time of lord Branimir, Duke of Slavs, I, abbot Teodobert, had this altar made in honour of blessed Ambrose the Confessor, for the salvation of my soul. Whoever should read this, let them pray for me, a sinner.”

There are not many remaining written sources about this monastery. The monastery archive was transferred to Zadar due to the Turkish invasion, and later returned to Nin, where it was destroyed in a fire in later centuries. During the Turkish raids in 1500, both the monastery buildings and the church were destroyed, but they were rebuilt again after these destructions. To this day, only the remains of the presbytery (chancel) and the outer walls have been preserved. Also, four stone pilasters have been preserved, leaning against the wall that was built of hewn stone. And in that place today there is a single-nave Romanesque-Gothic church of St. Ambrose.

IVAN BODROZIC AND IVAN BALTA