Original scientific paper
GRAVES OF THE CROATIAN FRATERNITY OF ST. GEORGE AND TRIPHON IN THE VENETIAN CHURCH OF OF THE MALTESE ORDER (S. GIOVANNI BATTISTA DEL TEMPIO)
Lovorka ČORALIĆ
Abstract
Archival sources, thousands of documents and manuscripts from various Venetian archival fonds and libraries, witness impact of the Croatian community in Venice, its social role and its influence on the Venetian economy and culture. Still there is one more trace of the Croatian presence in the cradle of Serenissima Respublica, and this one has not been well investigated in historiography, though it is quite important. Namely, in many Venetian churches there are many graves, tombstones and memorial plaques that mark final resting places of Croatian emigrants. The most known example probably is the memorial plaque in the great Dominican basilica SS. Giovanni e Paulo (S. Zuane Polo), which reveals that in this church lies body of the most important Croatian renaissance writer Marin Držić (1508-1567); though today we do not know the exact place of his burial. Similarly, in the church S. Govanni in Bragora there is grave of famous Perast captain Ivan Bujović (1694), and in the former Venetian cathedral S. Pietro di Castello there are grave and memorial plaque of Split captains family Ivanušić from 1737 and 1748. When we are talking about these grave markers one must not omit fabulous tombstone honoring Krsto Ivanović chronicler from Budva and Venetian canon (1618-1688) placed in S. Moisé church, as well as marble altarpiece in S. Giuseppe church what was donation of John of Varna – the famous Venetian admiral and commander in the battle of Lepanto (1571). On the basis of the published sources (Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna, Corpvs delle iscrizioni di Venezia e delle Isole dela Lagvna Veneta) and archival materials from the Venetian State Archives and Archives of the fraternity of St. George and Triphon in Venice author reveals data about the Croatian graves in the Venetian church S. Giovanni Battista del Tempio. In the first part of the article author discusses various types of social and economic ties between Croatian emigrants and their fraternity with this church of the Knights Hospitallers. Consequently, in the second part author analyzes inscriptions on the memorial plaques that belonged to the confraternity. One of them (renovated in the eighteenth century) was fraternally common grave, while other three were individual final resting place of prominent fraternity members. All these graves witness that some of the Croatian emigrants from Zeta, Perast and Bosnia were quite prominent and distinguished in the Venetian community.
Keywords
Venice; Venetian Republic; Croatian trans-Adriatic migrations; Zeta; Bosnia; Perast; church S. Giovanni Battista del Tempio in Venice; early modern times; tombstones; ecclesiastical history
Hrčak ID:
81342
URI
Publication date:
12.12.2011.
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