Original scientific paper
THE CHURCH OF ST SAVIOUR AT THE SORCE OF THE CETINA RIVER
Tomislav Marasović
; HR, Split, Marasovića 8
Abstract
The Church ofSt Saviour was the topic of many works, some of which were printed in this periodical, but however a great deal ofissues regarding the original appearance ofthe Church still remain unknown. In his paper the author tnes to shed more light on some issues that result from the typological analysis ofthe edifice being an incentive for further research which is necessary in carrying out a thorough research.
The author begins by presenting facts about the church, from the earliest historic sources until recent research and conservation.
Studies until the present, field work and a chronological analysis in particular, solved two crucial items: they helped to determine the foundations ofthe original church together with the main elements ofthe stone furnishing, as well as the time ofits construction, i.e. the last quarter of the 9th c. However, there is still a number of important issues that remain unanswered such as those regarding the groundcplan shape of the "elongated trefoil", articulation of walls, interpretation of the "westwork': system of the original vaulting.
Unlike the "classical" trefoil groundplan ofearly Christian prototypes whose presbytery was formed by the central apse and two lalteral apses with their axes vertical onto the main longitudinal axis of the church, the presbytery in St Saviour has the shape ofsemi-hexafoil. Such elongated trefoil is not completelyfree because the presbytery bears apronounced rectangular groundplan with a flat eastern wall and the central apse protruding from it.
Another significant element by which it differs from early Christian churches of an elongated trefoil groundplan is evident in the treatment ofthe outSide walls. They bear typically round counteiforts, a characteristic of many pre-Romanesque churches built in the central part of the early Croatian state. Therefore, they became a characteristic of many edifices belonging to the so-called "royal pre-Romanesque" (Goss).
The peculiarity by which the Church of St Saviour differs the most from the early Christian prototype is the western structure of the church with two Significant elements: belfry at the very facade and the "westwork" in the narthex ofthe chruch nave.
The belfry ofthe Church ofSt Saviour is the oldest preserved belfry in Croatia and as such determines the chronology ofbelfries in mediaeval architecture in Dalmatia. Its pOSition at the western facade best depicts the main feature of this group of belfries belonging to Early Croatian churches, and unlike many churches whose belfries may be presumed only by the remains oftheir foundations, this preserved belfry provides a complete study ofthe form as well.
"Westwork ", the most significant liturgical and architectural innovation ofCarolingian church architecture, is most clearly evident at the Church ofSt Saviour at Cetina and St Lawrence in Zadar, and owing to these two, it is also noticed on numerous churches whose groundplan ofthe western part resembles o the one ofSt Saviour. The significance of the Church of St Saviour at Cetina, however, lies in the fact that it reestablishes the thesis on westwork as a "ruler's" church, as evident by the follOWing:
l.the role of the Church of St Saviour as the church of a local ruler, i.e. a high ranking person -distric prefect -župan, mentioned in the inscription on the altar screen in Latin where he is mentioned as Gastica.
2. The narthex in the Church ofSt Saviour bears exactly what is considered as "Westwork" in Carolingian architecture. Its lower part still bears remains or traces ofvauIts supporting the upperfloor.Although the upp(fr floor is less preserved, its eastern wall bears three openings, a central larger one, and two small(fr latteral ones wh(fre the district-prefect supposedly attended the service held in the presbytery. The very well preserved Church of St Salliour implies a similarly elaborate "westwork" in about a dozen of other pre-Romanesque churches in Dalmatia. The church with a central-type groundplan that indicates "westwork" in the nartex is the hexagonal rotunda at Ošlje, whose niches on the western conch architecturally accentuate the western part. According to the pronounced similarities in the groundplans of churches at Cetina and the one at Lopuška glavica at Biskupija, the latter hypothetically had a twofloor narthex with "westwork". Three aisled basilicas that indicate "westwork" are the Church of St Cecilia and the Church of St Mary at Biskupija, the early Christian basilica at Žažllić whose narthex was added in the pre-Romanesque, and those at Solin -St Stjepan at Otok and SS Petar and Moses, the basilica where king Zvonimir was crowned.
3 the peculiarity ofthe Church ofSt Salliour in interpreting the "westwork" is eIlident in the exterior access to the church which is done by a staircase whose remains north of the beljry were preserved. This is probably how the district-prefect accessed the Church, arrilling to the first floor ofthe beljry directly into his box above the narthex.
One ofthe issues regarding the original aspect ofthe Church of St Saviour at Cetina is its original vaulting. As the Church covered a large surface, its vaultsformed six separate wholes: above the ground-floor and the first floor ofthe beljry, above the ground floor and the first floor ofthe narthex, above the nave and the three-conch presbitery. The original shape of construction above the nartex still r(fmains unknown and traces ofthe stone filed roofpreserved on the beljry may be a due to it.
The author declines non-scientific interpretations of the church 's reconstruction that appeared in the past few years acording to which a pseudo-Byzantine dome topped the dome. The vaulting of the Church of St Saviour should be clarified by detailed research.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
93633
URI
Publication date:
27.12.1995.
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