Cathedral of St. Bonaventure
Seat of the Catholic Diocese of Banja Luka
The Cathedral of St. Bonaventure is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Banja Luka and the city's principal Catholic church. It is dedicated to Saint Bonaventure (died 1274), a medieval Franciscan theologian.
The cathedral stands in the centre of Banja Luka and serves as the seat of the Diocese of Banja Luka, established in 1881. It is one of four Roman Catholic cathedrals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The first cathedral
The original cathedral was completed in 1887 and built in the Gothic style, furnished with wooden Gothic altars made in Tyrol. At the express request of the Austro-Hungarian authorities of the time, the church was not permitted to exceed 18 metres in length or 9 metres in width.
That building was severely damaged by the catastrophic earthquake that struck Banja Luka in 1969 and had to be demolished.
The present cathedral
The new cathedral was raised in 1972–1973 on the site of the old one, to a design by the Zagreb engineer Miroslav Matasović. It takes the form of a tent, carrying a double symbolism: the Old Testament Tent of Meeting, a place of prayer and sacrifice, and the tents in which the people of Banja Luka lived for a long time after the earthquake. The first Mass in the new church was celebrated at Christmas 1973. The exterior walls were clad in stone slabs in 1987.
The bell tower
The 42-metre bell tower was completed in 1990–1991. It houses five bells, the largest weighing 1,070 kilograms.
Renovation
The cathedral was damaged during the war of the 1990s and was thoroughly restored and reopened in 2001, marking the 120th anniversary of the founding of the diocese.
Visiting
The cathedral rises in the very heart of Banja Luka, close to Gospodska street and the Banski Dvor. It is the Catholic counterpart to the Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the city centre.