Original scientific paper
A FEW NOTES ABOUT THE BELL-TOWER OF THE ST. DOMINIC CHURCH IN DUBROVNIK
Verena Han
; Beograd
Abstract
The article deals with the final stage of the construction of the bell-tower belonging to the Church of St. Domenic in Dubrovnik, the construction as such having been studied by Cvito Fisković.
The to-day’s Baroque top of the bell-tower was added in the course of repairs executed following the damages caused by earthquakes in the 17th and 18th centuries. Concentrating his attention on two marginal notes contained in a document from 1443 (publiched by Fisković), the authoress is particularly attracted by a detail in the history of tower-building by stages, trying to find out the probable appearance of the original 15th century top stage that had been destroyed. The study bases on records newly discovered in the archives.
According to a statement contained in a contact dated in March, 1944, we find that the bell-tower was completed at that time. Some light is thrown by that document on the bell-tower belonging to the up to now uncertainly located cathedral church of St. Mary at Ulcinj, known only from sources. Master Peter, a Dominican friar, and his son Nicholas, glazier and vitroist, signed a contract undertaking to build the top stage of the mentioned bell-tower patterned after the Dubrovnik one. The appearance of the pre-earthquake bell-tower at Dubrovnik is not known, but it may be reconstructed from a few sources and pictures of Dubrovnik from the time before the earthquake. The height of the top stage amounted to 7 metres, which lent to the tower a Gothic accent – an alongated four-sided pyramid without adornments. From old panoramic views of Dubrovnik, we know that the bell-tower top was covered, but whether it was with stone slabs or lead sheets, or tiles, we cannot say. The authorship of the Dubrovnik tower is finally questioned in the article, i. e. whether is had been built by the mentioned friar Peter, who, thanks to the experience gained, was later invited to construct also the top section of the bell-tower of the Ulcinj cathedral.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
160185
URI
Publication date:
23.12.1980.
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