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In this study, modal and structural identification of a historic masonry bell tower in Čuntići, Croatia, damaged during the recent Petrinja earthquake, was performed. The results of the ambient vibration tests (AVT) and operational modal analysis (OMA) were used to update the finite element numerical model of the bell tower. Three modes were experimentally determined: the first two were bending modes (f1 = 4.395 Hz and f2 = 4.639 Hz), and the third was a torsional mode (f3 = 10.303 Hz). The experimentally determined and the originally calculated (preliminary NM) modal shapes agreed well, but in terms of modal frequencies, the correlation was poor. After model updating, some structural parameters were identified, and a reliable finite element numerical model was established. The proposed method can provide a reliable evaluation of the structural parameters of historic masonry buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]