in the surrounding area. In 1647, after the Turkish success at Novigrad, the Turks were said to have 30,000 troops ready to attack Split. The Signoria send off two thousand soldiers with munitions and provisions to the threatened area. Although Split and Zadar were strong fortresses, they were clearly in danger. The Klis mosque / church The Ottomans built a stone mosque with a dome and a minaret on the foundations of an earlier Old Croatian Catholic chapel inside the Klis fortress shortly after they had conquered it. It is a simple constructed square with the octagonal stone roof, designed primarily for military/religious use by the garrisons stationed inside the fortress. After the Venetians had conquered the fortress from the Ottomans, they destroyed the minaret and converted the mosque into a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to St. Vitus (). The building has been in that use ever since. It is one of three preserved Ottoman mosques on the territory of Croatia, the other two being in towns of Drniš and Đakovo. Venetian domination In 1420, the Anjou contender Ladislaus of Naples was defeated and forced to sail away for Naples. Upon his departure he sold his "rights" to Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for the relatively meager sum of 100,000 ducats. However, Klis and Klis Fortress remained parts of the Kingdom of Croatia. From that time, the Venetians were eager to take control over Klis, as the fortress was one of the region's most important strategic points. The Venetians fought for decades before they finally managed to re-take Klis. During the Candian War (1645–1669), the Venetians in Dalmatia enjoyed the support of the local population, particularly the Morlachs (Morlacchi). Venetian commander Leonardo Foscolo seized several forts, retook Novigrad, temporarily captured the Knin Fortress, and managed to compel the garrison of Klis Fortress to surrender. At the same time, a month-long siege of the Šibenik Fortress by the Ottomans in August and September failed. From 1669, Klis Fortress was in the possession of the Venetians, and it remained so until the fall of the Venetian state. The Venetians restored and enlarged the fortress during their rule. After another, the seventh war with the Turks from 1714 to 1718, the Venetians were able to advance up to the present Bosnian/Croatian border, taking in the whole Sinjsko Polje and Imotski. Thereafter the Turkish menace was laid to rest and Venice had no serious