Stručni rad
https://doi.org/10.58565/vda.3.1.10
William Gell’s journey along the eastern coast of the Adriatic from Venice to Boka Kotor (29 April – 25 May 1801)
Joško Bracanović
orcid.org/0000-0002-9923-2025
; Muzej hvarske baštine, Hvar, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Sir William Gell (1777 – 1836) was an English classical archaeologist and illustrator. In 1801, he embarked on a diplomatic mission to Greece, the Ionian Islands. In Venice, he boarded the ship Lo Spirito Santo, e la Natività della Madonna by Captain Ivan Marassi from Boka kotorska, sailing towards Zante. From then on, Gell kept a log of his journey. The log begins on 29 April 1801 in Venice, from where they set sail on 2 May. They passed along the Istrian coast and through the Kvarner bay and then through the channel between Silba and Premuda. They continued through the Zadar channel and then docked on the island of Žirje. They sailed straight to Hvar from Žirje. They also docked there, and unfavourable weather conditions and the celebration of the local co-patron St. Prošper made them stay for three days. They continued their journey between Pelješac and Korčula, passed
next to Mljet and Dubrovnik and docked in the port of Rose in Boka kotorska. From there they took a small boat to Kotor. They stayed in Kotor again for five days because of the weather. They tried to continue their journey, but as they suspected that they were being pursued by pirates, they returned to Kotor again. Finally, on 25 May 1801, they reached Durres in Albania and thus exited the area of the former Republic of Venice, under the administration of Austria at the time. Gell’s journey took place in the conditions of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, but these circumstances were noted only as secondary, along the way. Gell noted down many
toponyms on the eastern coast of the Adriatic and brought some interesting facts related to them. He mostly described Hvar and Kotor, where he stayed for several days. He also brought some ethnographic data for these places, with musical instruments drawing his special attention. He also dedicated part of the text to the Montenegrin people, who were little known in the Western literature until then. In addition to the log, Gell also left behind twenty-four drawings from this part of the journey, and these are kept in the British Museum.
Ključne riječi
William Gell; log; eastern coast of the Adriatic; Žirje; Hvar; Boka kotorska; Montenegrins
Hrčak ID:
293975
URI
Datum izdavanja:
24.2.2023.
Posjeta: 451 *