Original scientific paper

Medieval Sewerage of the City of Dubrovnik

Ivica Žile ; Ministarstvo kulture Uprava za zaštitu kulturne baštine Konzervatorski odjel u Dubrovniku

Abstract

Archaeological investigations over the last 30 years in the historical centre of Dubrovnik have made many finds of medieval sewerage (180 probe s) which in combination with archival sources have enabled clarification of the level of the civi1izational scope of the communalorganisation as well as the dispersion of communal customs in the other urban, semi-urban and rural areas throughout the territory of the Republic of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was one of the first European medieval cities which had adopted an ecological codex by the end of the 13tl1 century. This is shown in the decision on the paving of the streets, determining their slopes for carrying away precipitation waters and provisions for the building and maintenance of sceptic tanks and sewerage channels (gotales or gatti, or in the local dialect klončina) with the intention of eradicating epidemics -the plague, cholera and other contagious diseases which are dependent on unhygienic conditions (rubbish, excrement, mud and similar). In the Dubrovnik Statute which was codified in 1272 and its amendments adopted during the 14tl1 and IStl1 centuries in Book V (fourth and forty-third chapters) are set out the parameters for the construction of septic tanks and channels for the removal of dirty water. All septic tanks were built undemeath the house or street and had to be cleaned every ten years at the expense of the owner, so that they would not overftow. By a decision of the Great Council of 1376, the building of new klončina as well as the closure of those already built was forbidden. The exact date of the building of the sewerage system in Dubrovnik cannot yet be precisely stated, but previous opinion has established its lower time boundary which is supported by an archival source from 1339 in which is mentioned the building of a channel at the location of the Gates of Pustijerna which led to the coast. Translation: Nicholas Philip SayweU

Keywords

historical centre of the city of Dubrovnik; medieval se werage; sceptic tanks; k/ončina; paving; precipitation waters

Hrčak ID:

81506

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/81506

Publication date:

10.12.2007.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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