Original scientific paper

EARLY CHRISTIAN CANCELLI AT MIRJE NEAR POSTIRA

Emilio Marin ; Split

Abstract

On the easte called Mirje na Brigu (Mirje on the Hill) overlooking Postira on the Island of Brač lie ruins of a sometime large architectural complex which were not earlier investigated. According to the visible parts, however, there is no doubt that the remains belong to an early 6th century architectural complex. In the ruin of the early Christian basilica at Lovrečina lying nearby, however, we can observe the same construction method. So we may presume that at Mirje there had been some antique farm buildings before the early Christian structures were erected. We may also presume that a monastery of a pre-Benedictine type had existed before its transformation into a Benedictine one in the early Middle Ages. As fragments of cancelli have been found in the ruins of the early Christian structure, we conclude that a church stood there once. The fragments in question have two basic characteristics: the first, the presence of the known and typical ornament, non uncommon on the Adriatic coast in the 5th and 6th centuries, particularly at Salona, as also in the framework of the late antique civilisation (ornaments basing on geometrical or floral figures, as well as symbols of cross and lamb); then the second characteristic: representation of two lions, each of them on a separate antithetically placed plate rarely found in the Adriatic region, although – broadly considered – they are no exception. These fragments, the remains of at least nine plutei, can be most probably dated from the early 6th century. They were likely cut on the Island of Brač.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

159334

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/159334

Publication date:

23.12.1980.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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