Croatian Pre-Romanesque art and architecture
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Croatian Pre-Romanesque art and architecture or Old Croatian Art is
Pre-Romanesque art and architecture Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesq ...
of Croats from their arrival at
Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
till the end of the 11th century when begins the dominance of Romanesque style in art; that was the time of Croatian rulers ( Croatian dukes and Croatian Kingdom).


Historical background

The Croats were an Iron Age nomadic culture, and tended to avoid the Roman cities, instead moving to the countryside nearby (for example the river island on the delta of the river Jadro beside the city of Salona). The Croats had assimilated the Avars, accepted Christianity, and the ruling caste had learned to speak and write Latin. First Croatian ruler that was recognized by the
pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
was duke Branimir, who was called by pope John VIII ''dux Chroatorum'' in his letter in 879. First king of Kingdom of Croatia, Tomislav from the
House of Trpimirović A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
was crowned around year 925 as ''rex Chroatorum'' and he united Pannonian Principality and Littoral Croatian Duchy into respectable medieval country which peaked during the reign of
Petar Krešimir IV Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter. Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra. ...
(1058-1074). During the time of Croatian rulers the country was rarely ruled from one place and royal court would move from town to town in which there was a royal castle. The most important royal cities were Nin,
Biograd na Moru Biograd na Moru (), shortened to simply Biograd (), is a town in northern Dalmatia, Croatia and is significant for being another capital of the medieval Kingdom of Croatia. Biograd is administratively part of the Zadar County. It is located on th ...
and
Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
. Other bigger cities were
Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...
,
Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...
,
Krk Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kot ...
, Osor, Trogir, Ston and Dubrovnik, in which big number of original Roman population resided that was eventually Croaticized. After the death of last ruler from the dynasty of Trpimirović in 1091 most of Croatian nobility has accepted the Hungarian king Coloman as a king of unified kingdom of Croatian and
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
, stated by the deal ''
Pacta Conventa ''Pacta conventa'' (Latin for "articles of agreement") was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" (i.e., the szlachta (nobility) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and a newly elected king upon ...
'' from year 1102. In Hungarian Kingdom, in Croatia all art already has all characteristics of Romanesque style.


Architecture

During the 7th and 8th centuries there was a trend of constructing smaller buildings from the material and decorative elements of ruined older Roman buildings. During the 9th century, parallel with the establishment of Croatian principalities, new architecture of pre-Romanesque characteristics emerged. It was based on numerous influences of which the Frankish and Byzantine were the strongest. Slowly these inherited influences evolved into a more original style of architectural forms. From this time, there are dozens of large churches, and over a hundred small ones preserved across the Croatian coastline and islands. They are all built out of roughly broken stones covered with thick layer of moulter inside and out, and with narrow decorative niches with arched top (like church of st. Peter in Priko near Omiš and St. Michael near Ston). Also, they often have stone
vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...
s,
apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...
s and domes, as well as stone furniture (frames of doors and windows, perforated stone windows, and altar fences) columns, beams and portals. Instead of classical Roman forms where every part of the building was articulated and had its own recognizable form, new pre-Romanesque buildings have those parts united in unified mass. Therefore, the point where the wall turns to vault, or to drum of the dome is almost unnoticeable. Even though they were built roughly with unsophisticated materials they have excellent and often perfect understanding of architectural space. Smaller churches are called “churches of free shapes” as which the medieval architects wanted to explore all possibilities of shaping on the circular and rectangular base. Cube churches with dome are a bit simple (St. Pelegrin, Dugi otok), rectangular with elliptical base are a bit more complex (St. George, Ravanjska), as well as single nave churches with dome above middle section (St. Peter in Omiš) and cube based churches elongated with two apses (Church of St. Donatus on Krk) and the most complicated ones are those based on Greek cross with dome on the centre and large apse in eastern wing and two smaller apses in northern and southern wing ( Church of Saint Cross in Nin).Culturenet.hr
/ref> The most original churches are churches based on a circle with multiple apses that are spread around in radial rhythm.
Church of Holy Trinity, Split Church of Holy Trinity ( hr, Crkva sv. Trojstva ) is a Pre-Romanesque style Roman Catholic church located in Split, Croatia. Out of all early-medieval ( old Croatian) architectural monuments in Dalmatia, which historians date back to the period be ...
has radial 6 apses, while Church in Ošlje (Ston) is the ony one with 8 apses. The biggest church with circular base is ''
Church of St. Donatus The Church of St. Donatus ( hr, Crkva sv. Donata) is a church located in Zadar, Croatia. Its name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. Origi ...
'' in Zadar from the 9th century. Around its circular base that has a dome there is a ring nave with gallery and three apses on the east. From that time in central Europe there is only Charlemagne's ''
Palatine Chapel in Aachen The Palatine Chapel in Aachen is an early medieval chapel and remaining component of Charlemagne's Palace of Aachen in what is now Germany. Although the palace itself no longer exists, the chapel was preserved and now forms the central part of ...
'' that can be compared with its size and beauty. Large churches often have one or three naves, like '' St. Saviour, Cetina'' from the 9th century which has rounded
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es and a bell tower above the western portal (
westwork A westwork (german: Westwerk), forepart, avant-corps or avancorpo is the monumental, often west-facing entrance section of a Carolingian, Ottonian, or Romanesque church. The exterior consists of multiple stories between two towers. The interio ...
). In the 10th century Croatian queen
Jelena of Zadar Helen of Zadar ( hr, Jelena) (died 8 October 976), also known as Helen the Glorious, was the queen consort of the Kingdom of Croatia, as the wife of King Michael Krešimir II, from 946 to 969, a period which was marked by "peace, order and expe ...
, the wife of king
Mihajlo Krešimir II Mihajlo ( sr-cyr, Михајло) is the Serbian variant of the name '' Michael'', predominantly borne by ethnic Serbs. It is also spelled Mihailo (Михаило) and Mijailo (Мијаило). ;Science *Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian physicist *Mihajlo ...
, built in
Solin Solin (Latin and it, Salona; grc, Σαλώνα ) is a town in Dalmatia, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the ...
two churches: Church of St. Stephen of the Island which was used as a royal mausoleum, and Church of Our Lady of the Island, one of the biggest in Croatia which was used as crown
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
. Church of St. Stephen was built in Carolingian style with entrance hall above which was a gallery surrounded with two towers (westwork) from each sides of a
narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...
which led to tree nave church with two rows of pillars and a square apse at the end of central nave. In the 11th century, next to older “Church on the Hill” in Solin, Crown church of St. Peter and Moses (better known as “ Hollow church“) was built. The church was of unified Croatian pre-Romanesque forms and those Romanesque that appeared with the arrival of Benedictine monks in these parts. It has three naves, many thin niches inside and three apses of which middle is square and other are semicircular from inside and square outside. In this church the legate of Pope Gregory VII has crowned Croatian
Dmitar Zvonimir Demetrius Zvonimir ( hr, Dmitar Zvonimir, ; died 1089) was a King of Dalmatia and Croatia from 1076 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also served as Ban of Croatia (1064–1074), and was name ...
. In northern Croatia there are only few fragments of interlace found in Sisak, the capital of
Ljudevit Posavski Ljudevit () or Liudewit ( la, Liudewitus), often also , was the Duke of the Slavs in Lower Pannonia from 810 to 823. The capital of his realm was in Sisak (today in Croatia). As the ruler of the Pannonian Slavs, he led a resistance to Frankish do ...
. When the bishopric was founded in
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
(1090), Croatian culture at the coast has already flourished for 300 years and Croatia was at the end of its independence.


Sculpture

Pre-Romanesque Croatian churches are also the most important historical sources of that time because on their beams and tympanums of altar fences, as well on some portals and ciboriums we found many names of Croatian kings, dukes and nobleman which are mentioned as patrons and builders of those churches. The oldest one is from church in Rižinice (Solin) which mentions Croatian duke Trpimir (''PRO DVCE TREPIMERO''), from around year 850, while on the inscription of duke Branimir from year 888 we have the oldest mention of Croats: ''CRVATORVM''. On the rest from 10th century we found the names of dukes
Muncimir of Croatia Muncimir ( la, Muncimiro), sometimes called Mutimir, was a duke ( hr, knez) of the Duchy of Croatia and reigned from 892 to around 910. He was a member of the House of Trpimirović. Biography Muncimir succeeded Branimir in 892 as the Duke o ...
, Držislav and Svetislav, all the way to
king Zvonimir Demetrius Zvonimir ( hr, Dmitar Zvonimir, ; died 1089) was a King of Croatia and Dalmatia, King of Dalmatia and Croatia from 1076 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin, Croatia, Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also served a ...
from the end of the 11th century. That inscription of king Zvonimir is already made in Croatian, written in Glagolitic script (
Baška tablet Baška tablet ( hr, Bašćanska ploča, ) is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from . The inscription is written in the Glagolitic script. It was discovered in 1 ...
). Double literacy and two scripts have been noticed in several monuments as
Plomin tablet The Plomin tablet. Plomin tablet ( hr, Plominski natpis) is a Glagolitic inscription in Croatian at the outer wall of the church of Saint George in Plomin, Croatia. Roman god of flora and fauna Silvanus is portrayed. This inscription bears witn ...
(Istria) and
Valun tablet The Valun tablet ( hr, Valunska ploča) is an 11th-century bilingual (Old Croatian and Latin) and digraphic (Glagolitic and Latin) tablet, originally serving the role of a gravestone, found at the graveyard in Valun on the island of Cres, Croati ...
(
Cres Cres (; dlm, Crepsa, vec, Cherso, it, Cherso, la, Crepsa, Greek: Χέρσος, ''Chersos'') is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern islands in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from Rijeka, the island Kr ...
, 11th century) where we have Latin and script as well as Croatian translation in Glagolitic script. Nevertheless, soon the Latin script replaced the Glagolitic which was the only way that Croats would be accepted into still Romanized Medieval Europe. However, Croats will use their native language and script all the way to the 16th century, especially in Istria, Kvarner and on the Croatian coast. Altar fences and stone perforated windows were decorated with shallow interlace ornament which we call Croatian interlace. Motifs of this interlace are often of classical origin (waves, three string interlace, pentagrams, nets of rhomboids, etc.), but while in the Roman art it was used only as a frame, here they cover the entire surface. Sheer number, but also the quality of stonework, of these monuments tells us of rich masonry tradition of numerous masters and workshops on the east coast of Adriatic. Comparing to thousands of fragments found in Dalmatia, in the northern Croatia there are only two confirmed founds: one in Lobor and one in
Ilok Ilok () is the easternmost town in Croatia forming a geographic salient surrounded by Vojvodina. Located in the Syrmia region, it lies on a hill overlooking the Danube river, which forms the border with the Bačka region of Serbia. The pop ...
. Sometimes the interlace is replaced with figures of Gospels (like on the altar fence of Holy Sunday Church in Zadar), but those figures are flatten and their character lines are reduced to graphic lines in outmost linear stylization. The same is the relief from Crown Hollow church of
king Zvonimir Demetrius Zvonimir ( hr, Dmitar Zvonimir, ; died 1089) was a King of Croatia and Dalmatia, King of Dalmatia and Croatia from 1076 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin, Croatia, Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also served a ...
in Solin with the figure of ''(Croatian) king'' on the throne with Frankish crown, beside him is a page, and on the ground is a bowing subject. This relief is from the 15th century a front part of a baptistery in Split Cathedral. In church of St. Mary from the 11th century in Bishopric (Biskupija) near
Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
the oldest figure of Holy Mary in Croatia was found.Josip Soldo: History of Church in Croatia, Zagreb-Frankfurt/M., 1976.


Painting

Croatian interlace was originally painted, usually every string would be coloured brightly yellow, red or blue. Since the wall paintings that are mentioned in several literal sources (like the portraits of Trpimirović dynasty in church of St. George in Putalj above
Kaštel Sućurac Kaštel Sućurac () is a town within the administrative area of Kaštela in Dalmatia, Croatia. Kaštel Sućurac is first of its 7 kastels from East. Patron saint of the town is Saint George (Sv. Jure locally). A noted element of the ancient hi ...
) are not preserved, they are only type of pre-Romanesque Croatian painting. Significant number of church
codices The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
were preserved. They were done on pergam with pre-Romanesque
miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or probl ...
s of high quality and technique. The oldest one is Split Breviary that was written and painted from the 8th to 11th centuries, based on famous Breviaries from pre-Carolingian era. In
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
there is a Liber psalmorum which was illuminated in
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
style by prior Majon for archbishop Paul of Split (c. 1015–1030). In
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
there is a Breviary, also in monte-cassino Benedictine style (initials of intertwined leaves, interlace and animal heads) which originates from monastery of St. Nicola in Osor. The same style of illumination we can found in Breviars in
Trogir Trogir (; historically known as Traù (from Dalmatian language, Dalmatian, Venetian language, Venetian and Italian language, Italian: ); la, Tragurium; Greek language, Ancient Greek: Τραγύριον, ''Tragyrion'' or Τραγούριον, '' ...
,
Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...
and
Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
but there are many that were recorded (like 47 books in only one church in monastery of St. Peter in Seka) but not preserved.


See also

*
Pre-Romanesque art and architecture Pre-Romanesque art and architecture is the period in European art from either the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom in about 500 AD or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the 11th century Romanesq ...


Sources

* Josef Strzygowski, ''About development of Old Croatian Art'', Zagreb, Matica hrvatska, 1927. (hr.) * Old Croatian Heritage, Grafički zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb, 1976. (hr.) * Mladen Pejaković, Old Croatian Sacral architecture, Nakladni zavod Matice hrvatske, Kršćanska sadašnjost (Zagreb), 1982. (hr.) {{reflist


External links


Photographs
Croatian art Western art Medieval art Medieval architecture Architectural history Architecture in Croatia Medieval Croatia