Stručni rad
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2023.5
Church of St Mary of the Rocks, near Beram: Baroque painted wooden ceiling from its construction to conservation
Anđelko Pedišić
orcid.org/0009-0002-5807-7898
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Služba za odjele izvan Zagreba 1
Marta Budicin Munišević
orcid.org/0000-0002-5844-0960
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Odsjek za konzervatorsku dokumentaciju pokretne baštine
Sažetak
The Church of St Mary of the Rocks was built in the first half of the 15th century as a single-nave building with a rectangular sanctuary. It is known for the best-preserved series of wall paintings in Istria, the work of the workshop of master Vincent of Kastav, completed in 1474. The painted wooden ceiling was installed during the extensive Baroque renovation in 1709, when a new altar was installed in the sanctuary, and the cross-ribbed vault was replaced with a ceiling. A bell gable was also built, and an open porch was added. The wooden ceiling covers the entire nave of the church (56 m²), and it is made up of 63 square painted cassettes, with a central one that is four times as large as the others. The cassettes are composed of an outer square field and an inner octagonal one. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is painted in the octagonal field of the central cassette, and the other, smaller cassettes have a gilded passionflower appliqué. The corners of the cassettes are decorated with floral and plant motifs, and with floral Christian symbols. The corners of the cassettes next to the central one are decorated with cherubs. The similarity of painting technique and concept of the wooden ceiling in Beram and the wooden ceiling of the Church of St Peter and Paul in neighbouring Trviž (1703) suggests they are the work of the same local masters active in the region. The inspection of the ceiling in 2015 determined that the wooden support was damaged due to humidity and wood-eating insects, while the painted surface was pulverized and flaking due to the deterioration of the binder. After the surface was cleaned, the painted layer was consolidated and fixed to the support, ceiling planks were reinforced with a consolidator, nails were replaced with wooden wedges, and the structure was strengthened by inserting new wooden elements. Retouching of the painted layer was done only in spots crucial for the establishment of visual integrity. The first half of the wooden ceiling was disassembled in 2016, and the work was completed in 2018, when the restored cassettes were once again returned to their original positions. That same year, the second part of the ceiling was removed, and the opening to the roof was closed with boards bearing a photograph of the painted ceiling. When the restored cassettes were mounted in their original position on the second half of the ceiling (from the middle of the nave to the sanctuary) in 2020, one of the phases of the complete renovation of the church of St Mary of the Rocks was finished. The completed work on the church is the result of cooperation between the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and the Media and the Croatian Conservation Institute to organise, finance and perform demanding conservation on selected cultural goods of special importance for the heritage of the Republic of Croatia.
Ključne riječi
Beram; church of St Mary of the Rocks; Trviž; church of Ss Peter and Paul; wooden painted ceiling; ceiling painting; Baroque; conservation; restoration
Hrčak ID:
312360
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.12.2023.
Posjeta: 133 *