Izvorni znanstveni članak
Pre-Romanesque Altar Screens Their Lifetime and Secondary Use
Tonči Burić
; Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika HR -Split 21 000
Sažetak
Inspired by the analysis ofpre-Romanesque spolia at the site of Putaij, I have attempted to establish with a greater number of examples, from various sites extending from Dubrovnik to Istria, whether certain laws exist about the period and manner of their reuse, as well as possible variants from region to region, or in comparing city and village, and similar tOPics. In thisstudy, I have not entered into the semantics of the use of spolia in general, as a theme conceived in such a manner would necessarily require certain prelimina1Ji work. I did not come across wurks in Croatian literature that treated the prohlem ofspolia as a phenomenon, and particularly not pre-Romanesque spolia. In the available foreign literature, I came across a collection of works dedicated to the use of classical spolia in the architecture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissanee, and some of the works referred to pre-Romanesque spolia. I took as my starting paint generally known facts ahout preRomanesque furnishinp,s in the interiars ofchurches and the period when their use ended AJter detailed analyses of all of the described cases and consideration of the concrete historical circumstances ofeach ofthem, certain conclusions have been reaches, which are presented here in summary form.
Despite the generally widespread theory that pre-Romanesque cancelli had ceased being used with the development of Romanesque church architecture -wbicb is basically true when it refers to newly erected or renovated structures -the performed analysis offers a certain basis for a conclusion that a large number of these altar screens had remained entire or in a reduced form, andfurther continued in function, whether in situ ur reused, sometimes even into the Gothic period A chronological gradation is apparent in this between the larger urban churches, primarily cathedrals and large monasterial hasilieas on the one hand, and the smaller parish churches or former private endowments in villages, but also in urban contexts, on the other hand. The former were the first to throw out pre-Romanesquefurnishings and be renovated in the modern s~yle oftbe then dominant Romanesquestyle (J 2th-13th centuries). The cited examples from Zadar (tbe gable from Sukošan, tbe beam witb an inSCription mentioning Donatus, tbe grave ofAbhess Vekenega) and Split (the belltower oftIJe catbedral, the lining of the baptismal pool in the baptisteJY), as well as thatfrom the basilica ofSt Bartholomew at Kapitul near Knin, and indirectly the major renovation of the Trogir Cathedral undertaken by the master Radovan -parallels to which are represented by pilasters in tbe Romanesque cathedral church in Pisa in Italy are eloquent witnesses to these changes.
In the hinterland of the urban communes in the Adriatic region, in the rural sU17'oundings of feuda/ settlements and fortresses, there are almost no examples during the Romanesque of the use ofpre-Romanesque spolia analogous to that in the cities, Along with the example from KapituI (which is exceptionalfor several reasons), the only example known to me of an altar screen that had been dismantled at such an early date is the one from Otres, where the plutei from tbe earlier church had been walled into the foundations of the Romanesque church. All other cited examples as a rule represent late mediaeval (Gothic) or even modern period (Baroque) immuring ofpre-Romanesque fragments.
Such fragments were incorporated in this manner into the following Gothic religious stnlctures (14th-15th centuries): St George at Putalj, St Peter at Selo, the Holy Saviour at Vrh rika, the Gothic church at Crkvina in Mokro Polje near Knin, St Michael at Nin, St Cassian at Sukošan; or in the construction ofcontemporary graves: St George at Putalj, St Michael at Brnaze, the Holy Saviour at Vrhrika, Otres-Lukačuša, Ka6ić-Begovača, and Šopot-Crkvina.
Early Christian spolia can be added here: such as those from the late mediaeval graves surrounding St Cyprian at Gata, as this church had no pre-Romanesque furnishings, as well as the preRomanesque material from the graves around St Andrew in the central district ofthe city ofSplit.
To a minor extent, they ended up in secular stnlctures, such as the arch in the late mediaeval tower at Sućurac. Parallel examples can be found in Gothic churches in towns: St George at Marjan Point, and Our Lady of the Belfry (ex St. Theodore), and the Baptistery in Split (?J, St Peter in Dubrovnik, the cathedrals in Trogir, Zadar, and Istrian Novigrad, as well as St John in Trogir. The fact is that a far greater number of fragments of preRomanesque sculpture ended up as spo/ia in the Gothic architecture of the late Middle Ages and its contemporary graves than in Romanesque churches. l particularly point out the fact that preRomanesque spolia have still not been confirmed from graves throughout the developed Middle Ages, but only in religious structures, which eloquently speaks about the relations of the people of that period towards this element ofchurch interiors. Only from the late mediaevalperiods, in cemeteries around Gothic churches, will pre-Romanesque fragments appear as part ofgrave structures.
The second chronological period of intensive use of preRomanesque spolia belongs to the modern period, otherwise defined as the period of the renovation and construction of new churches in the Baroque style. Other than in newly erected religious buildings and walls, individual fragments at this pOint also end in grave structures. Along with rare examples from the 16th century, such as the gable in the Church of St Nicholas on Čiovo, and the small sections of grave spo/ia around St Michael at Brnaze, when the general situation in the Croatian lands and the surrounding countries was hardly appropriate to ereeting new churches, all the other examples are from the 17th-18th centuries. lt should nonetheless be mentioned that even in the rare urban churches built in Renaissanee forms, no pre-Romanesque spolia were registered for this period, other than in rare cases, such as that notedfor the facade ofthe Church ofSt Nicholas on the island of Čiova. The Baroque period, however, again abounds in immurred fragments of earlier decorations. There are many such finds in the coastal towns: St Peter in Dubrovnik, the Cathedral, St Lawrence, and St Nicholas in Split, St Theodore in Okruk Gornji on the island of Čiova, and they are also common in the broader vicinities of urban districts and in the hinterland: St Cassian at Sukošan (jor the second time), St Michael at Nevidane on the island ofPasman, St Michael at Ston. At the same time, following inheritedpractices from the Middle Ages, some ofthe fragments are also included in grave structures, equally in the cities and in the hinterland: St Michael "in ripa maris" and St Stephen "sub pinis " in Split, and St Stephen at Gorica and St Nicholas at Povijana on the island ofPag.
The habit of utilizing pre-Romanesque furnishings was still maintained at the beginning of the 19th century, although with reduced intensity. As example, l noted the late Baroque beifry of the cemeteriai chapel in Trogir, and part ofthe spolia in the graves around St Stephen at Gorica. A more detailed analysis would surely offer an even greater number of examples, but the examples cited here are entirely sufficient to illustrate the chronological sequence ofuse ofpre-Romanesque furnishings after their removal from church interiors, as well as new purposes in later ecclesiastic structures, altars, and graves surrounding churches.
The chronological framework of the Gothic and the Baroque, when there was intensive reuse ofpre-Romanesque sculpture and its fragments became spolia, suggests certain conclusions related to the socia-economic and political processes that marked the periods of the cited artistic styles in which the use ofspolia was so emphasized. The first cycle of taking down altar screens during the period ofRomanesque art encompassed -as the analysis has shown -only a limited number of churches, mostly large basilicae and cathedrals in the Dalmatian communes. A more extensive phase of removing the old pre-Romanesque screens, or allOWing a reduced form of them, followed in the numerous Gothic alterations in smaller urban churches and the majority of churches in the hinterland, so that the third and final act of their removal from the churches followed in the first centuries ofthe modem period, during the period characterized by the Baroque style. The majority of altar screens had then already been removed, and their parts, if they had not already been utilized in the Gothic phase, were preserved in the churches themselves or around them. There are rare examples of altar screens, like that of St Nicholas in Split, which remained in situ to the 17th centU1Y, or like the one in the nearby St Martin, which is the only screen to have remained in its original place to the present day.
The Baroque was quite simply the period when using preRomanesque spolia was in fashion. Taking into account the changes in the liturgical ritual, which caused concomitant changes in the church interiors, and the erection of new Romanesque and GothiC churches without altar screens, the fact remains that a great number of pre-Romanesque screens long remained in theirplaces, even after the end of the pre-Romanesque period, so it is impossible to speak of the necessity of their removal because ofsuch chanp,es in the liturgy.Ifthe process is viewedfrom another point of view, the economic realities should be placed in the foreground. The first cycle during the Romanesque was limited to the urban communes ofDalmatia, which in thatperiod were the main factors of economic advancement and the revival of trade and exchange, while the feudal Croatian hinterland was still primarily dependent upon a natural or barter economy. This is the reason that the pre-Romanesque spo/ia first appear in the Romanesque cathedrals and other urban churches along the coast. In the Gothic period, the development of trade and exchange and the social organization ofthe communes were far more developed in comparison to the Romanesque period, and hence investment was much more common even in minor religious structures, whether in the towns or in the hinterland. In the latter, the circulation of various COinages gradually but certainly led to the increasing disrnption ofthe feudal natural economy.
In Croatian historiography, this was specifically the period of the reign ofLudovic {Louis} I of Anjou 0342-82), which has been noted as a time of economic security and vitality, and also represented the period of the final ascendancy of the Gothic style in architecture. All ofthe citedfactors together resulted in a hastened dismantling ofold altar screens and the morefrequent use ofthem as spolia in new or renovated churches. The appearance of new religious orders should be noted as supporting such a concept of removal: particularly the begging orders, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, whose liturgical concept also excluded screens with pre-Romanesque characteristics being placed in front of the altar.
In conclusion, the third cycle during the Baroque can be tied to two pivotal factors: the end ofthe lengthy Candian Wars 064569) marked the transferal of the Venetian-Turkish border in Dalmatia deeper into the interiOr, which partially resulted in a renewal of trade and led to an economic revival. Following thiS, investments were also revived, as were the renovation and reconstrnction of a large number of religious strnetures, in which the remaining spolia preservedfrom the former altar screens were then immurred. This process, in addition to the urban centers, also encompassed the interior qf. Dalmatia, particularly in the 18th century after the definitive collapse of Turkish rule throughout the entire Adriatic coastal region,
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
93334
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.9.1997.
Posjeta: 1.943 *