Preliminary communication
Archaeological excavations in the church of St Luke the Evangelist in Novska in 2018
Juraj Belaj
orcid.org/0000-0001-8953-3820
; Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, Croatia
Sebastijan Stingl
orcid.org/0000-0002-9203-1650
; Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In the autumn of 2018, the Institute of Archaeology did archaeological excavations of parts of the church of St Luke the Evangelist in the town centre of Novska. The excavations uncovered parts of an older sacral building with a single nave, a rectangular sanctuary, and a triforium in the western part. Considering the size of the church – measuring 11.61 x 6.96 m on the inside – we can assume it was a private, court church or a chapel of a local lord. If this assumption is proven to be true, it would explain the fact that the church is not mentioned in the famous list of parishes written by Archdeacon Ivan Gorički in 1334. The foundations were built of bricks alternating with stone, while the walls were built of bricks pursuant to a practical and well thought-out project. Considering its characteristics, the church was most probably built in the second half of the 12th century. Also, there were many interesting finds from different periods, including prehistoric pits with Lasinja and Vinkovci culture pottery.
Keywords
Novska; Church of St. Luke the Evangelist; rectangular chancel; Church of St. Demetrius; Belina; triforium; court chapel; Lasinja culture; Vinkovci culture
Hrčak ID:
231621
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2019.
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