Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/9xn31crwoy
AN OWERVIEW OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN THE CITY OF VARAŽDIN HISTORIC CORE
Jere Drpić
; Novi Marof
Abstract
The core of the city of Varaždin is defined as a space that was surrounded
with town’s graveyards and fortifications, by the 19th century, together with the
site of the Old City fortress. Archaeological researches in this area were possible
to divide into three main periods, in chronological order and in terms of performance
intensity. The period before and during World War II (Filić’s research),
then the period after the World War II and the period after 1993 The first period
is characterized by the very beginning of excavation, since 1938 until 1943 when
in the territory ofthe
fortress the Old Town, under the direction of Krešimir Filić,
was excavated in the area, due to the need of landscaping around the Old Town.
The next period after the World War II was the time of stagnation of archaeological
research in the city and it was marked by only two major archaeological
researches in the city’s territory; research of the so-called Brvnara (log cabin) on
today’s Franciscan Square in 1954 and 1962/63 year, probe in the inner courtyard
of the Old Town fortress, led by B. Vikić from the Zagreb Archaeological Museum.
The rest were only minor probes around the fort, architectural character in
1970/71 and sporadic rescue interventions of the curators of the Varaždin City
Museum on locations within the city; in the 1966. Kukuljevićeva street, and in
1984 at the “Varteks” department store in the very center of the town. In the
last period, since 1993, when two major archaeological excavations occur in the
city (Blažekova street and corner of Šenoina street and Pavlinska street), archeological
surveys and research intensified, with well supporting documentation.
In that way, a total of 24 locations investigated within the city have been documented
up to today, while the area within the territory of the fortress of the Old
City during this period, was investigated on multiple archaeological probes, on
6 occasions. Also in the 2006 systematic archaeological research was conducted there, as part of an international project called “Bastion”. In the above-mentioned
project a lot of new data about the fortification system around the Old
Town were collected, as well as a number of finds which dating from the 15th to
the 20th century. If we compered it to the other finds which have been found in
other archeological researches in the city they can be dated to the almost same
period. The only surely dated finding that can be conected with some of the
activities in the city during the early Middle Ages is a random find of a Frankish
winged spear in front of the Lančana kula, entrance tower of the Old Town. In
addition to the numerous movable findings from the late Middle Ages and Early
Modern period at some locations of the city have been found parts of (wooden
and stone) architecture that can be dated to the same period, but also fortification
elements of diches and walls. For the time being, in the area of the core of
the city of Varaždin haven’t been found any movable or immobile archeological
finds that would suggest that there were some settlement, before the Middle
Ages. Of course all of this is just a reflection of the current state of archeological
exploration of the city of Varaždin and can be changed in future researches.
Keywords
archeological researches; city of Varaždin; historical city core; urban archaeology.
Hrčak ID:
231079
URI
Publication date:
24.12.2019.
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