St. Mark’s Cathedral is the center of religious life in the old city of Korčula, and one of the city’s most significant and most beautiful buildings. It was erected in the 15th century on a site where a 13th century Romanesque church used to stand. Local master builders, well known from Dubrovnik to Venice, were involved in the construction. The most notable among them was Marko Andrijić, who left his masterpieces on the structure: the final section of the bell tower with a dome and lantern and a ciborium above the high altar. The entrance to the cathedral contains a 15th century statue of St. Mark the Evangelist, patron saint of Korčula, the work of Bonin of Milan. The wall above the high altar is adorned with effigies of Sts. Mark, Bartholomew, and Jerome, the first translator of the Bible into Latin, who was originally from Dalmatia. The work is attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto, the most prominent representative of Venetian Mannerism. The church also contains The Annunciation, another of Tintoretto’s works, as well as a 14th century icon of Our Lady of the Island, believed to have saved Korčula from the Ottomans in 1571.