Kulturna baština, No. 35, 2009.
Pregledni rad
ARCHAELOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE WEST PORTION OF THE SPLIT RIVA IN THE PERIOD 2006 – 2007
Dubravka Čerina
; Ministarstvo kulture, Uprava za zaštitu kulturne baštine, Konzervatorski odjel u Splitu
Sažetak
The so-called protective archaeological research on the west portion of the Split Riva was initiated by the recent construction-decoration works on the Riva. The remnants of a Venitian castle, dated to the first half of the 15th century, were discovered, together with the channels and the paved area situated at the west portion of the castle. The research also revealed the existence of the underpinned portion of the Venitian-built coast line and the locality called
Mali mul, which were presumably constructed either at the end of the 16th or in the first half of the 17th century. The remains of the baroque bastion Bernardi were also discovered at the site.
The ancient Split harbour was formed during the construction of Diocletian’s Palace and was situated at its front. The medieval coast line expanded towards the north whereas the Venetian line expanded towards the north and the west end of the ancient harbour. In the first
half of the 15th century, the Castle was built. The west portion of the today’s central part of the harbour was a silty shallow cove. The construction works at this site had not started until the 19th century when the harbour was expanded towards the west under the French rule.
During the Austrian rule, precisely in the mid-19t century, the French portion of the coast is expanded to create more definite stone coast line. The Venitian Castle of colossal proportions was erected right by the medieval defensive city walls in the 15th century. The Castle, that closed the entrance into the ancient harbour on its west side, was pentagonal in shape with four octagonal towers on the north side. Today, only the main big tower and the nearby smaller one on the north-east side are preserved together with the connecting wall between them. In the course of the archaeological research in 2006 and 2007, the following architectural remnants of the south portion of the Castle were revealed: the outer defensive walls on the south, east and west side, known as Z3, Z6 and Z10; the pavement – P1, built at the outer rims of the defensive wall. A very interesting wall,
known as Z9, was revealed inside the Castle. This wall, that is 3 metres wide and 19,50 metres long, is positioned in the east-west direction. Both the width of the wall and inclination of its outer portion (scarpa) imply that it was, in fact, a defensive wall. This defensive wall is presumed to have been built before the 15th century Castle. The historical resources from the early 14th century, particulary the Split City Statute from 1312 and the Town Council notes, reveal the existence of several constructions in this period. These are, as follows: the court known as Curia Sabachi, the locality called Sendare, the defensive city wall, the Monastery of St. Claire. The mistery of The Scarpa, or the Z9 wall, is yet to be unravelled, since it was not built before the 15th century and the Castle had already been erected without it.
Archaeological research revealed the remnants of the underpinned portion of the Venitianbuilt coast line that was 120 metres long. The end west portion of the coast goes along the pavement (P1) of the south defensive wall of the Castle (Z3) and continues east, towards the entrance into the subterranian passages of Diocletian’s Palace. The coastal wall was built using big blocks of stone connected by waterproof binder. The red colour of the binder reveals its two main components: the binder is the mixture of red soil and, so-called, Santorini earth.
The underpinned portion of the coast was presumably built at the end of the 16th or in the early 17th century. At this time, that is, after the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the threat of any possible attack of the Ottoman fleet was removed and the Castle lost its primary purpose: the defense of the harbour. Mali mul is situated in front of the Castle and the Venitian-built coast. It is presumed that Mali mul is dated to the same period as the Castle, since the same red binder was used to
connect the walls. Two massive walls, Z19 and Z21, were discovered on the north portion of Mali mul. The north west Z19 wall is dated to the first half of the 19th century, whereas the north east Z21 wall is considered to be a remnant of the east portion of Mali Mul from the first half of the 17th century.
Several intersecting walls were discovered between the two aforementioned walls. It is believed that these intersecting walls belonged to two healthcare buildings: the first building was erected in the early 18th century and the second one that was called Šanitada and designed by Vicko Andrić in 1824, was demolished in 1875.
The baroque bastion Bernardi was built on the south west portion of the defensive city walls in 1664. The bastion walls are made of stone blocks that are preserved in its lower portions. The filler is completely preserved and reaches the foundations of the two houses
built on the bastion: the neo-reneissance Andrić and Gillardi houses.
It is important to stress that only preliminary conclusions have been made concerning the issue of the Split harbour. More definite conclusions will be reached after a thourough analysis of the archaeological findings.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
65956
URI
Datum izdavanja:
26.11.2009.
Posjeta: 2.074 *