Stručni rad
Characteristics and Issues of Urban Development of Salona
Stanko Piplović
Sažetak
Salona is the principal Roman city in Croatia. In its oldest part there were numerous public buildings. Gradually, it spread both eastward and westward, to be surrounded with walls in the insecure times of the late 2nd century AD. Of particular importance is the time of its growth in the early Christian époque. It was destroyed during the barbarian invasions of the early 7th century.
Its remains are still visible. Besides systematic researches, many details have been discovered accidentally in the course of agricultural of construction works. The basic postulates of its long development are known, however, the results are occasionally partial and lacking a clear critical assessment. The facts have been analysed mostly from historic and archaeological perspectives, less from urban planning, civil engineering and generally technical ones. Lacking is an artistic assessment of its architectural achievements, and comparisons with other contemporary achievements are scarce. In spite of the great and long efforts, a mayor part of the city has not been researched yet, especially its residential architecture.
An assessment of the degree of exploration would certainly establish that at least 70 percent of its area is still unknown. And everything that will be discovered in the future will be at the foundations level only. The third dimension, that is, the numbers of floors and appearances of the buildings, will remain missing. This is, however, important in determining the population density and, thereby, living standards. Based on the scarce remains found so far, building types and interior arrangements in particular stages of the city development cannot be discussed.
Past explorations have offered the most important, yet only basic knowledge on the urban structure of Salona and its changes in the course of time. There are still details unknown. Explorations of certain locations, as parts of the city in whole, on which the past explorations were focused, will certainly be deepened to enable an even firmer interpretation.
There are no detailed information available on residential and administrative buildings. There have been discovered no standard representative urban amenities, normally present in larger Roman centres. There have been found only smaller memorial monuments, such as votive altars and pedestals at the forum, and the fountain by the Porta Caesarea. It is still unknown whether the city had any public monuments of the triumphal arch type, larger outdoor sculptures or high columns decorated with relieves.
Still not perfectly clear are the water and sewage networks or the city street grid. The city certainly had developed utility installations, that enabled its citizens a decent living standard and comfort. Some of the above questions and dilemmas will be solved by further researches.
Ključne riječi
urban planning; architecture; Roman époque; Salona
Hrčak ID:
89535
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.9.2012.
Posjeta: 3.037 *