The present Dubrovnik Cathedral was built according to plans by Italian architect Buffalini from Urbino, and was completed in 1713. Before the renovation and recostruction in 1986 archeologists made a sensational discovery showing that the remains of another, even more ancient and previously unknown cathedral dating from the seventh century, are placed in the lower parts of the building. According to local legend, Richard the Lion Heart, on his return from a Crusade, was shipwrecked near Dubrovnik. In order to be spared his life, he vowed to give money for the building of a church. The church built with that money, later destroyed in a catastrophic earthquake, was according to this legend the foundation of today's Cathedral.

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