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THE ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES OF THE HVAR COMMUNE
Nikša Petrić
; Odsjek za arheologiju HAZU
Ambroz Tudor
; Konzervatorski odjel u Splitu
Sažetak
The architecture of the country houses in the old Hvar commune, comprising
the islands of Hvar, Vis and their smaller neighbours, is a large and significant
part of the architectural inheritance of the region. There are about eighty buildings and complexes with the characteristics of country houses in the former Hvar commune. This number is relatively large because the estates have dispersed into many parts of the islands of Hvar and Vis, usually of course into the most fertile agricultural areas. Typically these large and dispersed estates would be organised in a kind of chain of villas and outhouses. Research conducted hitherto has usually been concerned with single important examples, such as the Tvrdalj of Petar Hektorović in Stari Grad or Lučić's villa in the town of Hvar. Cvito Fisković's research is very significant, in that he was the first to draw attention to the number and importance of the Hvar country houses. As pointed out by Nada Grujić in her work "The Architecture of Dubrovnik Villas", the term architecture of villas should be interpreted broadly and in some cases conditionally. This applies equally for the architecture of the Hvar commune: The meaning of the country-style embraces various architectural constructs expressing a particular life-style outside the town walls. The unusual feature of the country-style architecture within the Hvar Commune is its frequent location inside a village or town. There are five places in the Commune, apart from the town of Hvar itself: Stari Grad, Vis, Jelsa, Komiža and Vrboska. These settlements were started, or existing structures more intensively developed, during the second half of the 15th century, when the situation in the Adriatic had become more stable. From the beginning of the 16th century, country houses were fortified; this became a rule in the 17th century. Many country houses were also built in bays convenient for sea access and alongside roads in the interior of the islands. The particular configuration of the island of Vis and its connection with the Commune's centre, the town of Hvar, led to most of its country houses being built in the Bay of St. George, where two settlements had developed by the end of the 15th century: Kut on the eastern side of the bay and Luka on the west, which later merged to become the town of Vis. Apart from these country houses, there is a group of about a dozen independent country houses and husbandry complexes in the interior of the island , mostly on the edges of agricultural land. Most are organised around a fortified tower, indicating the threat of incursions by pirates during the 16th and 17th centuries, just like the commune towers and fortifications in Vis and Komiža. The 15th century villa in Vrboska, later Kupareo House, consists of a country house and husbandry complex which dominated the scene until the end of the 19th century. There are three main elements: a fenced-off courtyard in front of the house, the house itself, and a garden at the back. Most houses are one-storey buildings, with the husbandry area on the ground floor and living quarters on the first floor. An outside staircase on the front facade connects the front yard with the first floor of the house. In this concise topographic presentation, which gives basic details of country house architecture in the Hvar Commune, there are certainly important elements which would repay further research . The best examples are Hektorović's Tvrdalj, Lučić's villas in Hvar, Stari Grad and Vis, the villas of the Gariboldi family in Vis and Stari Grad, the Lupi's in Gromin dolac, the Gazarović's and Jakša's in Vis, the Barozzi's and the Bevilaqua's in Jelsa and the Andelinović's in Zastražišće, each of which have their individual styles of spatial organisation. In addition, these country houses were the environments in which the best literary works of Hvar Renaissance literature were created. In "Fishing and Fishermen's Conversation", Hektorović describes his Tvrdalj, Bartucević's villa in Lučišće and Balistrić's home in Nečujam. In the foreward to his "Murat the Pirate" and in his poems, Marin Gazarović sings praises to the country life on Vis at the beginning of the 17th century. Indeed, the best of their poetry is about country houses and shaded walks and the pleasures of life during the Croatian Renaissance, a particularly interesting subject which should be presented in more detail. Several concise texts from the 16th century show that the Hvar and Vis country villas had distinctive aesthetic, architectural and design characteristics. An interesting example is Pribojević's perception of these country buildings and the image of a Renaissance town: Their houses are tall and spacious, with ceilings and other town ornaments beautifully appointed, so that those villages would be described as well-organised towns but for the absence of town walls. Nada Grujić's final thought about Dubrovnik country architecture is a mnemonic echo of the above: Dubrovnik, a town with its space and texture already defined and with no possibility of expansion or change, made a true urban imprint on the surrounding environment during the 15th and 16th centuries. Its attempt to create another town outside its existing narrow area established a new and harmonious relationship with nature. A town of villas and gardens to surpass the image of a walled town - a perfect Renaissance town. In addition to Pribojević's text of 1525, G. B. Giustinian in 1553 described concisely the architecture of Stari Grad as molti belli edifizii. Valier in 157 9 described it as cum plurimis elegantibus aedibus, and Gazarović in 1623 wrote of Vis as having Houses more beautiful than those in towns. These texts clearly and concisely highlight the specific points of architectural interest in the Hvar Commune of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
110436
URI
Datum izdavanja:
11.8.1998.
Posjeta: 2.657 *