Review article
Plaster Casts of Dalmatian Sculptural and Architectural Heritage in the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Magdalena Getaldić
; Gliptoteka Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts was the first and still is the only museum in Croatia to specialize in the collection of plaster casts. It was founded on the principles and in the spirit of a European-wide phenomenon — the collection of plaster casts that led to the foundation of numerous collections and institutions. All around Europe, when national heritage was being defined in the early 19th century, plaster casts appeared as an echo of the Romantic movement. That was the time when numerous national collections of casts were created, mainly consisting of medieval and Renaissance sculptures. Numerous museums thus confirmed themselves as encyclopaedic and universal, aiming to develop national identity and culture. Informed by these ideas, an important body of national monuments of the Croatian cultural, sculptural, and architectural heritage from the pre-Romanesque era to the Renaissance from the region of Dalmatia was assembled in the Gypsotheca, today known as the Glyptotheque. The Collection of Plaster Casts of Croatian Historical Monument Fragments from the 9th to the 15th Century is one of a kind for several reasons. From the very founding of the museum, it was considered the most important section on which the whole conception of the museum“s establishment was based. The mission of the museum is, through the prism of this collection, the systematic collection and presentation of the national cultural development and historical and artistic monuments from the domain of sculpture. This paper focuses on the provenience and the role of plaster casts from various archaeological sites and diverse collections Dalmatia-wide, which can be presented in the Glyptotheque and brought together in their original dimensions and in a single place.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
317876
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2023.
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