Original scientific paper
NEW CONTRIBUTIONS TO HEKTOROVIĆ’S TVRDALJ
Goran Nikšić
; Regionalni zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture, Split
Abstract
The article, bearin on the subject-matter of the recently published study by Miće Gamulin on the Tvrdalj, fortified summer residence of the renaissance poet Petar Hektorović at Stari Grad, brings out some fresh data which emerged during the course of the exploration of the central part of the complex carried out for the purposes of the renewal project currently under way.
The most significant elements of the old environment have been conserved in the central part of the Tvrdalj. It would be difficult to give anything like an accurate reconstruction of its appearance during Hektorović’s life on basis of historical sources alone (Petar’s verses, his will and some later documents) without relying on the material remnants from different phases of its construction still extant on the building. Based on these traces, it is submitted that the poet built only the fish pond and the small tower-devecote surmounting it, while the stronghold crowned with an embattled parapet (crenels), the fortified courtyard and the porch topped on its south side by an open passageway belong to an older structure. The stone vaulting of the porch has recently been reconstructed on basis of the traces in situ, while the renewal of the small tower which Hektorović built over the western termination of the porch is currently under way.
The tower never had a defensive function; its first floor served as a dovecot, while the second floor was used as a sparrow-house. It originally possessed a hip roof, while presentday terminal terrace may well date from the 19th century when the surrounding houses were raised to a greater height and the top of the tower coalesced with their roofs.
The tower-dovecot lies exactly on the transversal axis of the fish pond. On all four sides Hektorović had the fish pond’s boundary wall embedded with symbolic reliefs and inscriptions. Originally this wall was two courses of stone higher than it is today, save for its east side where the fish pond was flanked by a porch with stone pylons and arcades. In the Baroque the porch was extended on the other three sides of the pond as well, and the construction material was brought from the south rampart of the Tvrdalj once the Turkish and pirate menace had passed.
The new regulation of the fish pond represents the most valuable change and the most picturesque detail brought about in the Baroque. In the remaining part of the complex the process of partitioning started as early as the Baroque period, when Hektorović’s heirs divided the building among themselves, unifying the compartmentalized spaces of the original whole, and continued in the 19th century. Unfortunately this process of degradation of the original structure has not been stopped even in our times. Therefore the conservation works currently under way are aiming at the preservation and renewal of the original appearance of the most valuable parts of the Tvrdalj.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
152423
URI
Publication date:
22.12.1988.
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