Original scientific paper
Romanesque Arhitecture of the Southern Part of the East Adriatic Coast through the Problem of Emphasizing the Influence of Apulian Building
Marinko Tomasović
orcid.org/0000-0003-4148-4470
; Gradski Muzej Makarska
Abstract
The influence of Apulian constructions on the architecture of the East Adriatic has been emphasized in the literature for a long time, thus creating a negative image of a creatively passive area. But, analysis of the problem of medieval architecture shows a different situation and demands a more detailed review of the building practice of Apulia and its neighbouring provinces on the western side of the Adriatic. The initial spark of understanding the influences was maintained by emphasizing the vaulting of only the side aisles of Romanesque cathedrals by which this indication of the more distinct southern Italian group had to get analogies in the buildings of the eastern Adriatic. The crucial places in the reviews and interpretations of the relations between the two opposing coasts in the Middle Ages are to be found in the works of Cvito Fisković. Their importance is not in the development of already existing interpretations, but in the correlative insight of the past and contemporary situations on the Croatian coast. In the text on the 12th century Benedictine church of St Mary on Mljet, the author notices analogies in Apulian building practice, but also evaluates the solutions of earlier construction in the eastern Adriatic. In the work of Vojislav Korać on the church on Mljet, the analysis is focused on trying to place this church amongst the Raška churches of the Serbian building tradition. The problem was that much more complicated since the similari ties between the Romanesque church of St Mary on Mljet and the one of St Margaret in the Apulian town of Bisceglie, did not include the shape ofparts ofpresbytery. A solution similar to that in St Mary on Mljet can be found in the Greek church of Nea Moni on Chios from 1045 which also has a pair of columns indicating the tripartate shape of the east end. However, the actual spatial organization of the Mljet church should be explained through earlier buildings on the eastern Adriatic coast, such as the church of St Peter in Dubrovnik, dated to the 10th century. This Dubrovnik church is very loosely tied to Byzantine churches with the floor plan of the cross written into the square base, achieved without the mediation of architecture in Apulia, as well as the 9th century Kotor church of St Tryphon, although it is, to a certain extent, closely related to the churches of southern Italy. The church of St Peter in Dubrovnik has to be viewed in the framework of the similarities of the solutions we find in the case of the church of St Stephen in Solin. Igor Fisković captures most successfully the influence of southern Italy, especially Apulia, on the development of the church construction in the southern part of the eastern Adriatic coast. The author states that the analogies in the architectural solutions on both sides of the southern Adriatic coast should not be taken as proof of Apulia's superiority. Despite this, analogies with Apulian construction were found in the floor plan of the uncovered Romanesque cathedral in Dubrovnik, although there are no known examples with a similar floor plan in Apulia. The most characteristic example of trying hard to prove the influence of Apulian construction can be seen in the analysis of the source for the shape ofKotor's Romanesque cathedra!. Let us start with the old conviction that since the nave of St Tryphon is not vaulted, it must have been influenced by the Romanesque church of St Nicholas. Vojislav Korać paid special attention to the Kotor cathedral and analyzed architectural solutions from the Apulia region in an attempt to explain the solutions in the Kotor building. In this process, he did not take into consideration that on the whole area of the eastern Adriatic coast there can not be found one medieval church building which would, in analogy with the Apulian churches, have one or more cupolas in the same axis. Therefore, everything points to the strength of regional examples, just as it is in the neighbouring Apulia, where the appearance of the 12th century churches with three cupolas above the nave is connected with the previous regional situation. Even the fasade bell towers of St Tryphon have been observed in connection with the church of St Nicholas in Bari. However, their shape should be seen as a sign of the general spread of westem concepts rather than the concrete influence of any of the Apulian buildings. The idea of a one-way influence of Apulian medieval , especially Romanesque, construction on the church architecture of the southern parts of the east Adriatic, is evidently not based on the stated solutions. It is therefore more desirable to understand the solutions in the medieval constructions on both sides of the Adriatic coast as analogies. Translation: Nicholas Philip Saywell
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
81722
URI
Publication date:
22.9.2006.
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