Ars Adriatica, No. 4, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Early Christian Phase of the Arch Parish Complex of St Asel at Nin
Marija Kolega
orcid.org/0000-0001-6540-0724
; Department of History of Art, University of Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
Archaeological excavations in the complex of the Arch Parish Church of St Asel discovered an entire early Christian complex consisting of a north singlecell church and, to its south, a group of baptismal buildings which was soon transformed into a longitudinal building with an eastern apse. A number of remodelling interventions between the sixth and the eighth century confirm that the early Christian church and its baptistery survived the turbulent centuries of the Migration Period. The next major building phase was identified during the conservation works carried out on the church walls and there is no doubt that it occurred at the turn of the ninth century when the church became the cathedral of the Croatian bishop. Both churches, the north and the south, were provided with new stone furnishings while the baptismal font was altered so as to conform to the liturgical changes which were introduced into the baptismal rite. Archaeological evidence has demonstrated that the font remained in use until the sixteenth century when the apse of the south church was destroyed to make way for the chapel of Our Lady of Zečevo (1510-1530). The buildings to the south suffered a major destruction in 1780 when the Lady chapel was extended at the expense of its north wall which was torn down and the southern structure was cut in half.
Keywords
Nin; Church of St Asel; early Christian church; baptismal complex; chapel of Our Lady of Zečevo
Hrčak ID:
130703
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2014.
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