During the time of bishop Donatus, the diocese received the ashes of Saint Anastasia of Sirmium from Emperor Nikephoros I, whom the cathedral took as patron.

It was reconsecrated on 27 May 1285,[2] although the new building, designed in a fashion similar to the Santa Maria della Piazza church in Ancona, was completed only in 1324.

The façade, completed in 1324, has two orders: the lower and more massive one has three portals, the central one being crowned by a bas-relief of Madonna and Child with Sts.

Crisogonus and Anastasia; the upper one culminates in a triangular pediment, and is decorated with four orders of Lombard bands.

The interior has a nave and two aisles, the former three times larger than the latter, which are separated by alternately arranged stone pillars and pylons.

The church has a hexagonal baptistery that dates back to the 6th century, located on the south side of the cathedral.

The walls and the apse of the sacristy, also known as the chapel of St. Barbara, belong to the oldest parts of the cathedral, along with the floor mosaic depicting two deer (early 5th century).

The museum of art of the church houses the Zadar Polyptych, an early work by Venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio.

A flat wall surface is stylized with a floral mosaic, while the wreaths that separate floors are highlighted with a fretwork.