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The Cathedral The entrance into the basilica itself is constituted by the narthex, which was constructed on the site of an earlier street, and the space before the narthex belongs to a fine open atrium with a square basis. Opposite the entrance to the basilica, the baptistery is located. This octagonal building drives from the pre-Euphrasian time, and is dependent on the architecture of the late classical tradition. The structure of the walls and the wooden roof construction are the work of local builders. In the north eastern corner of the basilica there is a memorial chapel the ground plan of which is somewhat different from those of the other buildings in its immediate vicinity. The trefoil ground plan of the chapel, in which reliquaries are kept, has an oval antechamber in front of the entrance. Outside, the three semicircular apses of the chapel gained a polygonal shape; considerable restoration works were done on the whole of the building in the 19th century. Both the atrium and the baptistery, and all the parts of the walls of the basilica, were taken over in large part from the building that Euphrasius found here. However, the conversions, and still more the new organisation of the whole, bear witness to a very precise concept that the bishop used to give shape to his great complex. It is this concept that reveals the spirit of the times and of Euphrasius’s bold vision. We shall find visible signs of the presence of both Euphrasius and the spirit of the East in the rich decoration of the interior of the basilica. The naves share two rows of nine arcades linked at both their eastern and western ends with pilasters on the wall. The arcades are made of pillars of grey marble that rest on finely shaped bases and in their upper parts finish in capitals above which are imposts with round medallions in which Euphrasius’s monogram is carved. Quite unambiguously, the capitals indicate the origins of Euphrasius’s aesthetic viewpoints. Whether it is a matter of very individual variations of Corinthian composite columns, or of planes of reversed truncated pyramids opened up by rich perforations that create ornaments like braiding or stylised plants, the refinement of high Byzantine art can always be clearly be gathered from them. To this catalogue of the plastic devices of Euphrasius’s basilica we should add the sequence of marble slabs of the railing decorated with bas reliefs with symbolic representations (crosses, monograms, birds, deer, cantharos, stylised horns). In the arcades on the northern side the stucco work has been preserved; originally, this was painted. To this visual brilliance we should add the incrustations in the lower part of the apse. Pieces of multicoloured marble and mother-of-pearl covering the walls create an imaginative kind of ornamentation. In the apse there are marble stalls for the priests, closed at the sides by marble slabs with reliefs of dolphins, while in the centre of the semicircle rises the bishop’s throne.
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Prostori bazilike Ulazni dio u samu baziliku čini narteks koji je izveden na mjestu ranije ulice, a prostor ispred narteksa pripada lijepom otvorenom atriju kvadratične osnove. Nasuprot ulazu u baziliku smješten je baptisterij. Ta građevina osmerokutnog tlocrta potječe iz Predeufrazijeva vremena i oslanja se na arhitekturu kasnoantičke tradicije. Struktura zida i drvena konstrukcija krovišta djelo su domaćih graditelja. Uz sjeveroistočni kut bazilike izgrađena je memorijalna kapela kojoj tlocrt pomalo odudara od ostalih građevina iz njezina neposrednog susjedstva. Trolisni tlocrt kapele, u kojoj su se čuvale relikvije, ima ispred svog ulaza ovalno predvorje. Izvana su tri polukružne apside kapele dobile poligonalni oblik, a na čitavoj su građevini obavljeni u XIX. stoljeću veći restauracijski poslovi. I atrij, i baptisterij, baš kao i dijelovi ziđa bazilike, preuzeti su dobrim dijelom od građevina koje je Eufrazije tu zatekao. Međutim, adaptacije i još više nova organizacija cjeline govore o vrlo preciznom konceptu na kome je biskup oblikovao svoj veliki kompleks. I upravo taj koncept odaje duh novoga vremena i Eufrazijeva smjelog vizionarstva. Vidljivije znakove prisutnosti i Eufrazija, ali i duha Istoka, naći ćemo na bogatoj dekoraciji unutrašnjosti bazilike. Brodove međusobno dijele dva niza od devet arkada koje se na svom zapadnom i istočnom kraju vezuju s pilastrima na zidu. Arkade tvore stupovi od sivog mramora koji počivaju na lijepo oblikovanim bazama, a u gornjem dijelu završavaju kapitelima iznad kojih su imposti s okruglim medaljonima u kojima je uklesan Eufrazijev monogram. Kapiteli nas na nedvosmislen način upućuju na podrijetlo Eufrazijevih estetskih nazora. Bilo da se na osebujan način variraju korintski kompozitni kapiteli, bilo da se plohe obrnute krnje piramide rastvaraju bogatim perforacijama koje tvore ornamente nalik pleteru ili stiliziranoj vegetaciji, iz njih se uvijek jasno razabire rafiniranost visoke bizantske umjetnosti. Tom plastičkom inventaru Eufrazijeve bazilike treba dodati i niz mramornih ploča ograde ukrašenih plitkim reljefima sa simboličkim prikazima (križevi, monogrami, ptice, jeleni, kantarus, stilizirani rogovi). U arkadama na sjevernoj strani sačuvana je također i štukatura koja je u prvotnom obliku bila bojana. Tom vizualnom blještavilu treba dodati i inkrustacije u donjem dijelu apside. Komadi raznobojnog mramora i sedefa popločavaju zidove tvoreći maštovite ornamente. U apsidi su smještena i mramorna sjedala za svećenike koja sa strane zatvaraju mramorne ploče s reljefima delfina, dok se u sredini polukruga uzdiže biskupska katedra.