Histria antiqua, Vol. 19 No. 19, 2010.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
THE USE OF DECORATIVE STONE IN DIOCLETIAN’S PALACE IN SPLIT
Katja MARASOVIĆ
; Arhitektonski fakultet u Zagrebu Kačićeva 26 HR - 10000 Zagreb
Daniela MATETIĆ POLJAK
; Umjetnička akademija Sveučilišta u Splitu HR - 21000 Split
Sažetak
Diocletian’s palace in Split was built at the beginning of
the 4th century AD and is one of the best preserved antique
palaces of the Roman Empire. A large number of artists
and artisans worked on its decorations, among which the
best preserved are those of stone. Apart from stone coming
from the island of Brač or Seget, from which most of the
architectural decorations were made, decorative stone from
Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt was also widely used in the
palace. The latter was used for construction elements such
as columns for the peristyles, porticos, peripteros and the
interior of the mausoleum, and also for the wall panelling
and stone flooring of important areas. Thus, at several
locations, fragments and traces of marble wall panelling
were found that belong to the emperor’s apartment, and
marble flooring elements among which the most prominent
are those that formed part of the mausoleum floor which
was made using the opus sectile technique. Some of the
rooms had floor mosaics made of different types of stone,
while the mosaics from the cupolas were mostly made
of multicoloured glass, which was even gilded in some
cases. Decorative stone was also used for sculptures, and
also for room furniture. Recently, a sigma-shaped table
has been discovered, probably from the emperor’s dining
room. Diocletian’s sarcophagus was made of porphyry
but, unfortunately, only fragments of the sarcophagus
are preserved.
Of all the decorative type of stones, the ones mostly
used in the palace are Attic and Proconnesian marble,
pavonazzetto from Phrygia, marmor carystium (cipollino)
from Euboea, breccias coralline from Turkey (Troad),
red Egyptian granite from Syena (Asuan), grey Egyptian
granite (Mons Claudianus) and purple (imperial) porphyry
also from Egypt (Djebel Dokhan).
In the Middle Ages, when special types of stone were hard
to obtain for a number of reasons, in the town of Split use
was made of the stone which was at hand. All the beauty
of the decorative stone of Diocletian’s palace can be seen
elsewhere in one particular place, that is, on the pulpit
of the cathedral in Split where the medieval stone mason
skilfully used different antique stone fragments to create
a new work of art.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
85446
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.11.2010.
Posjeta: 3.056 *