Original scientific paper
Walled towns of the Boka Kotorska Bay in Venetian period
Ilija Lalošević
orcid.org/0000-0002-8947-6288
; University of Montenegro Faculty of Architecture, Podgorica, Montenegro
Abstract
In course of a several-year long research, the available literature and historic documentation about the fortifications of the Boka Kotorska Bay were carefully studied. Those were the documents from local and foreign archives and libraries, such as old manuscripts and rare publications; epigraphic and heraldic monuments; engravings; panorama pictures; military architecture plans; geodesic maps; and photo documentation. A solid documentation base was formed through collecting, studying and systematising the authentic sources, through the analysis thereof and comparison with available relevant literature, and through comparison with the preserved previously studied building structures. The development of the fortification architecture in this area was studied upon this base. The research has confirmed the exceptional historic importance of the Boka Kotorska Bay fortifications, especially walled towns. The town of Kotor and the Boka Bay had been the key strategic area for the powerful neighbouring empires. This area was particularly important to Venetian Republic due to being a very important checkpoint in the Mediterranean basin trade routes. The architecture thereof testifies to its strategic historical role, representing a genuine testimony of values of cultural heritage, showing its quality and importance in the context of the wider defensive system of Venetian Republic. The research of the Boka Kotorska Bay fortifications has – besides direct scientific interest – an evident practical value as well. After the fall of Venetian Republic, and especially after the fall of Austrian Monarchy in 1918, these places – particularly those far from the sea and on high locations, lost their strategic importance, and became abandoned and exposed to decay and devastation, to atmospheric, seismic and vegetation impacts, and to negligence. Scientific research of this category provides a sound base for the future process of its successful revitalisation.
Keywords
fortifications; walled towns; Boka Kotorska; Venetian Republic; Kotor; Herceg-Novi
Hrčak ID:
170580
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2016.
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