This is the Church of Saint Simeon, also known as Simeon the Just, who appears in the Gospel of Luke. According to Christian tradition, he was a devout and elderly man in Jerusalem, to whom the Holy Spirit promised that he would not die until he had seen the long-awaited Messiah. That moment came when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the Temple. Simeon immediately recognised the child as the Saviour and took Jesus into his arms, offering a joyful prayer of thanksgiving known today as the Nunc Dimittis, or ""Now let your servant depart in peace."" And, his incorrupt body rests here in this church in a two hundred and fifty kilograms silver-and-gold sarcophagus. The chest was commissioned by Elizabeth of Bosnia, wife of King Louis the First of Hungary and Croatia, and she visited Zadar in the late fourteenth century to venerate the saint's relics. Now, here is where legend and history get tangled. When the queen visited Zadar in the late fourteenth century, she was deeply moved by the saint's remarkably well-preserved body. According to legend, she wanted to take home a small piece of one of his fingers as a personal relic. Believing no one would notice, she secretly broke off a fragment. But the theft was followed almost immediately by strange events. The reliquary refused to close, and the queen's hand suddenly withered, which people saw as divine punishment for committing sacrilege against the saint. Another version of the legend claims that as she tried to leave with the stolen relic, it began to rot, and a foul smell spread through her garments. Realizing what she had done, Elizabeth returned the stolen relic and begged for forgiveness. To atone for her sin, she commissioned the magnificent silver chest that still holds the saint's body today. Art historians have a less dramatic interpretation. They believe Elizabeth donated the chest as a political gesture, a show of royal patronage in a strategically important city, and that the ""theft"" legend grew from a scene depicted on the chest itself. Either way, the chest is extraordinary. It is made of cedar wood lined with silver, and it rests on bronze angels that were reportedly cast from captured Ottoman cannon. A team of local and visiting goldsmiths spent three years completing the work. Elizabeth even placed her own travel crown inside, which is now displayed at Zadar’s Museum of Gold and Silver. However, her own story did not end well. She never bore the son she apparently hoped the saint's intercession would bring. When her husband, King Louis the First of Hungary and Croatia, died, their young daughter, Mary, inherited the throne. But not everyone accepted a female ruler. Rival nobles saw an opportunity to seize power, and Elizabeth and Mary were captured during a rebellion. They were imprisoned in the Novigrad Castle, and Elizabeth was strangled, reportedly before her own daughter's eyes. Take your time exploring the church, and when you’re ready, follow the map to the city walls, which is our next stop.
