Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.58565/vda.4.1.10
The 1638 inventory of state palaces in the local administrative units of the Republic of Dubrovnik
Nella Lonza
orcid.org/0000-0002-6387-1036
; The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik HAZU, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Abstract
Published and analyzed in this paper are the seventeenth-century inventories regarding the equipment of the state palaces serving as seats of the administrators (counts, captains) in the local units of the Republic of Dubrovnik. A system of control through comparing the condition of the items at the yearly handover between the counts was introduced already in the fifteenth century, but the inventories are extremely rarely preserved. The newly discovered central register of 1638 from the State Archives of Dubrovnik is especially valuable as it provides a survey regarding the administrative units of Konavle, Cavtat, Župa, Slano, Janjina, Trstenica, Lopud, Šipan, and Mljet.
The equipment in the palaces served for the official use of the administrator (count/ captain), notary, guards, and included furniture for the storage of public registers. However, as the state palaces served also as a living space for the count/captain, his guards and prisoners, inventorized items reflect also their everyday needs. Some of the inventories offer data about the disposition of the rooms, and all of them list wooden furniture, omitting small items, probably brought by the counts from their own households. Although some of the palaces were constructed with high attention to aesthetic detail, overall, the listed furniture is very simple, modest, and sometimes in poor condition, mirroring the generally sober approach of the Republic to state administration buildings.
Keywords
Republic of Dubrovnik; 17th century; local units; state palaces; inventory
Hrčak ID:
314349
URI
Publication date:
26.2.2024.
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