Bishop Euphrasius built the basilica from 553, in the 6th century, on the site of an older basilica, and construction took about ten years. The earliest basilica there dates to the second half of the 4th century, and a 5th-century one also stood on the site. The architectural style is Byzantine.
The nave and two aisles are separated by 18 Greek marble colonnades. The central apse is polygonal on the outside, with two smaller semicircular apses, and the article calls it the earliest triple-apsed church in Western Europe. Mostly gold-ground mosaics from the 6th century fill the apse, including Euphrasius holding a model of the church.
The marble ciborium of 1277 is modeled on St. Mark's in Venice. The complex also has an octagonal baptistry, a 16th-century bell tower and a colonnaded atrium. The article dates the baptistry to both the 5th and 6th centuries. UNESCO listed the site in 1997.

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