English: According legend, Richard the Lionheart was returning from the Crusades in 1192 when he was shipwrecked in a storm, and cast aground on Lokrum Island in front of Dubrovnik. In order to thank God for his life, he vowed to build a great church on the spot where his life was saved. When he mentioned his intentions to the shrewd Dubrovnik leaders, they convinced him it would be much better to build the church in Dubrovnik instead. That is how the legend tells the story of the erection of the Romanesque styled Cathedral in Dubrovnik in the 12th-14th century. This Romanesque Cathedral crumbled to dust in the Great Earthquake of 1667. It was a luxurious domed basilica ornamented with many statues.