Church of Saint Stephen at Otok
Church of Saint Stephen was a 10th-century church in Salona, currently an archaeological site located in today's Solin, Croatia. Its atrium served as a mausoleum of Croatian medieval rulers. It is one of the two medieval churches on the site, the other being dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The Church is named after 'Otok' as the site is called Gospin otok,, a river island on the Jadro.
History
According to writings of 13th century medieval chronicler, Thomas the Archdeacon, the Church of St. Stephen was built by queen Helen of Zadar, who then donated them to the diocese of Split. Thomas claims, that the churches were temporarily given to some monks who performed rituals there, due to the royal tombs being inside, until king Zvonimir of Croatia donated them back to the diocese of Split. Thomas noted on:
"For there the magnificent man King Cresimir was buried, in the courtyard of the Basilica of Saint Stephen, with many other kings and queens".
Although this area was affected by the Mongol invasions of 13th century, who chased Hungarian king Bela IV all the way to Dalmatia and besieged the nearby Klis fortress, most Croatian scholars nowadays agree that the church of St. Stephen survived these invasions, since it is still visible on 14th century maps. They presume, however, that it was destroyed somewhere in early 16th century, during the Ottoman invasions.