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Late antique villa with portico on Mirje near Postira
Vanja Kovačić
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture u Splitu
Sažetak
Mirje takes a special place among late antique localities on the island of Brač. It is situated high on Mali Brig above the village of Postira, in a cultivated agrarian landscape and on an excellent strategic position in the climate of Salona, the capital of the province of Dalmatia. Actually, it was built among the two important centers on the Adriatic part of the province: Diocletian’s palace in Split and imperial quarries near Škrip, from which architectural stone for building the monumental palace was cut.
Numerous fragments of stone furniture scattered all over field drywalls, confirmed the existence of a sacral building from the 6th century, hidden within the complex, which hasn’t been recognized up to present day. Through protection works, for the past two decades, the architectural complex has been defined in its whole range. The analysis of the discovered walls suggests that the complex was not built for the convent’s community, but that was in fact a later adaptation of the late antique villa.
The array of square bases with overturned monolithic stone pillars was found in the interior of the complex, among the two big projections of the western façade. The pillars with square cross-section have been knocked down towards the middle of the yard within the complex. At the ends, there were six pillars and two semi-pillars in a row, with a somewhat wider middle intercolumniation. We recognize the pattern for this kind of »rhythm« between pillars on the south façade of the imperial palace in Split, which for sure was the model and inspiration for the builders of this small residential building. Pillar surfaces were treated by marteline with a hole at the bottom. The monumental distinctive wreath is turned upside-down and re-carved into smaller pieces which served as pillar bases. By disintegrating the wreath that was intended for a public building or a temple, the bases of the portico were formed, and they, on their inner side, don’t have the same shape, but are only treated obliquely, like a truncated pyramid. The upper surface has square hole with a small canal for pouring lead.
Monolithic pillars with a square cross-section are rare in other late antique localities in Dalmatia. The continuity of the quarrying tradition in Roman quarries around Škrip has created the base for the making of such blocks. Namely, cubic capitals and semi-capitals are decorated with leafs of acanthus, tendrils and plastic vegetative volutes. Traces
of quarrying skills have been preserved in the stones of Roman quarries close to Škrip (Rasohe, Plate, Zastražišće), where deposits of blocks could be seen. We must not exclude the assumption that owner of the villa on Mirje was the imperial quarry manager and that he was in charge for supervision of the valuable state property near Škrip.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
63818
URI
Datum izdavanja:
23.12.2010.
Posjeta: 2.954 *