The doctoral thesis deals with Zadar stone quarrying and stonemasonry from antiquity to Baroque. During this period, stone was the most important building material. The phenomenon is analyzed on craft-technological and symbolical level. Majority of the thesis studies a process that involves extracting, processing, transporting, trading and building with stone. The second chapter deals with symbolic connotations of stone. Together they form textual part of the thesis. The second part of the dissertation is a glossary of stonemasonry terms that were or still are used on our coast. In order to emphasize the neglected craft and technological level of stonemasonry, a methodological procedure was used with a clear departure from traditional historical and artistic research based on aesthetic principles. Most of the work is the result of an analysis of published material from research in history, art history and archaeology. Field surveys of quarries in Zadar were carried out and stone structures of crucial historical buildings were examined The work is interdisciplinary to a certain extent, since knowledge from natural, synthetic, technical and social sciences is used as well as information related to conservation and restoration profession. The beginnings of stone quarrying in Zadar are related to the emergence of Liburnian hill-fort settlements at the end of the second to the mid-first millennium BC. The exploitation was primitive, subordinated and conditioned by the Dinaric karst relief. The stone was extracted in the immediate vicinity of the settlements using a simple method of separation, i.e. splitting by natural layers. Organized extraction and processing of large blocks often with roughly dressed surface (bugna) using masonry tools emerged under the Greek influence at the most advanced stage (4th and 3rd centuries BC). Construction is characterized by drywall construction. Roman colony of Iader was founded in the former Liburnian settlement. Numerous quarries were opened on the Zadar islands for the construction purposes (Ugljan, Pašman, Dugi Otok, Rava, Lavdara, Abi, Iz, Premuda, Molat, Ist, Sestroni, Kornat, Žut, etc.). They belonged to smaller communal examples, and this is one of the densest concentrations of ancient quarries on our coast. The exploitation and processing of stone was done following a standard pattern. It was extracted by splitting into layers, using wedges placed in gouged holes, and by deepening the separation channels. It was processed in quarries and town workshops according to a strictly conceived plan and in stages. They used standard forged tools for carving. Limestones from central Dalmatia were intensively imported. The central Dalmatian and Istrian quarries had 263 greater regional significance than the Zadar quarries but in the wider contexts of the Roman Empire where decorativeness was imperative they were of little importance. Expensive marble and granite were imported mainly from the Aegean, Italy and Egypt. Mostly marble was imported into Iader, and less frequently granite. In addition to the islands, there were also land quarries. They were opened for the needs of ancient settlements in the hinterland. A great contribution of the Roman construction was the use of lime for making various mortars. The mortar allowed solid construction with smaller stones. Masonry with regular squared stone blocks was dominant in Iader (opus quadratum, isodomum and pseudoisodomum). The general crisis of Late Antiquity had led to decline in stone quarrying. Most quarries in Zadar were extinguished or their activity was extremely reduced. Late Antiquity and early Christianity will be marked by removing and recycling of waste building material from ancient ruins, in other words Iader itself becomes a city quarry. Recycling will continue in the Middle Ages becoming a permanent feature of stone carving in Zadar until the beginning of Baroque. Building activity was reduced to the hasty fortification of the city, characterized by building with trimmed stone and spolia. A new rise in construction activities happened with the adoption of Christianity. In addition to the episcopal complex numerous churches in the city, hinterland and islands were erected. The stone was procured by digging on ancient ruins or from smaller island quarries. Stonemasonry with roughly semi-dressed stones became a common occurrence. Marble import was extremely reduced and related only to the imperial quarries in the Aegean. There was an even more noticeable decline in craftsmanship reflected in relief-like carving, extreme stylization, and the reduction and impoverishment of the ancient artistic repertoire. The tendency was to reshape ancient monuments into early Christian ones. Local stone carving workshops for furnishing churches emerged in Zadar. In the Early Middle Ages, the negative trend continued, and organized exploitation in quarries ceased. Instead the stone was extracted from smaller pits in the immediate vicinity or it was taken from ancient ruins. The masonry technique imitates late antique (early Christian) patterns but it is much rougher. Along with the abundance of lime mortar, smaller trimmed stones were used, less often rubble stone, arranged in semi-regular rows (a combination of opus incertum and opus pseudoisodomum). Deterioration is also noticeable in stone carving which is relief-like, schematized and mostly following early Christian patterns. The technique is more reminiscent of wood carving than stone carving. The patterns are carved into limestone over drawn templates (e.g. late antique mosaics) and painted. Sometimes ancient or early Christian marble is recycled. In Zadar and the hinterland local stone carving workshops were active, testifying to the continuity of the craft. Recovery of stone quarrying begins with the Romanesque period. Numerous new quarries were opened and abandoned ancient ones were reopened. Most often the exploitation was moved from the hills to the littoral. The technique of quarrying did not differ much from antiquity and will remain practically the same until the 19th century. All stone carving tools were also retained from antiquity with minor modifications. Along with the white limestones (Molat and Dugi otok), numerous small quarries of gray limestone (Abi, Velika and Mala Lavdara, Sestrunj, Rivanj, Ugljan, Tuna, Zverinac, Žut and others) were opened on the Zadar islands. On the mainland, there were smaller local quarries that supplied individual settlements. As in antiquity, tufa was cut on the riverbeds of karst rivers. Stone masonry with trimmed stone was abandoned in representative architecture, and ashlar became a measure and module. Significant progress was also realized in sculpture. In the second half of the 12th century sculpture that was fully integrated with artistic aspirations of the time appeared in Zadar. As in architecture, it is characterized by use of various stones, or polychromy. Recycled marbles and breccia from Rab were used in addition to local limestone. Further specialization of work happened in the Gothic period. The chief person at construction sites was the protomagister, designer and site manager, and sometimes a stonemason or builder. In Zadar, there was a communal protomagister in charge of maintaining communal buildings and defensive walls. Intense construction and stonemasonry activity led to the need to educate young staff. It consisted of years of practice with distinguished masters. For more demanding jobs, the masters cooperated in temporary business partnerships. There was also a division of work in stonemasonry. Quarrymen broke and roughly processed stone, while sculptural forms in stone were made by skilled stone-cutters. The diversification of crafts was slow, and there were masters marangones who combined different crafts. They were engaged in construction using wood and stone equally. Renaissance architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries was dominated by the construction of new forts. For this purpose the Venetian authorities sent military engineers and architects to Zadar, and local builders and stone-cutters were their subordinates. Builders from the Italian cities became more numerous. Many medieval churches, walls and residential buildings were destroyed due to the construction of the forts. Greater mobility of masters could be noticed as well as the import of stone from Brač, Korčula, Trogir and Istria. Due to reduced stonemasons' orders, the number of local craftsmen and workshops was reduced significantly in comparison to the 14th and 15th centuries. Baroque stonemasonry in the 17th and 18th centuries was in the hands of the authorities and in service of public works led by the Venetian architects and military engineers. Due to lack of skilled labor, the authorities sent Venetian masters to Zadar. Stonemasonry was marked by the dominance of Venetian altar masters and the import of Italian decorative stone. In the 17th century the Venetian altar masters resided temporarily in the city, and in the 18th century individuals settled here permanently and workshops were set up. Local stonemasonry was separated fully from construction and its transfer began from the city to the islands. It can be concluded that, from antiquity to the 20th century, all the construction and stonemasonry in Zadar was based on use of stone from the nearby islands. Central Dalmatian and Istrian limestones have been imported for centuries. Allochthonous decorative stone is for the most part ancient marble that has been recycled for centuries, and numerous decorative marbles and limestones from Italy are present in Baroque. In the long period of stonemasonry in Zadar, from antiquity to baroque, there is a great deal of continuity: in the insularity of stonemasonry, the use of local architectural and building stone and the dominant role of local stonemasonry production in the city.