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THE MEDIEVAL DOUBLE CHURCHES AT GOSPIN OTOK IN SOLIN
Radoslav Bužančić
; Konzervatorski odjel u Splitu
Sažetak
In the l0th century, the Croatian Queen Helen, wife of King Mihajlo Krešimir II and mother of Stjepan Držislav, commissioned two churches in Solin , one dedicated to St. Mary and the other to St. Stephen. According to the Split chronicler, Thomas Archdeacon, the Queen gifted these churches to the Split Church of St. Domnius. They were later made available for a time to some monks, but were afterwards returned to the Split Church by King Zvonimir at the Nin Assembly.The same source says that there were tombs of many kings, including that of King Krešimir, in the atrium of the Basilica of St. Step hen. The churches were probably destroyed after invasions by the Tartars in the 13th century and by the Turks in the 16th century. Over the centuries they were renovated many times, but by the end of the 19th century no trace of them remained. Archaeological excavations conducted by the "Bihać" Society under the leadership of Don Frane Bulić established the location of one of the churches. The other stood on the site of the parish church of today but was destroyed by fire in the middle of the 19th century. These facts can be established by comparison of the geodetic records of 1820 and 1995which marks precisely the position of the old church and results of research done on its floor. The key document confirming the existence of the churches is a description by Bishop Ladislav after his tour of the Split estate in 1397 at the request of King Sigismund, which states that there were two churches, St. Mary's and St. Stephen's, at Otok in Solin. Remains of the two churches and a fragment of Queen Helen's Sarcophagus with an inscription were found during archaeological excavations. Material for further analysis of the locality exists in the form of archaeological maps, numerous notes from the period, photographs and some water-colour paintings of the old church. Archaeological remains show that the churches were parallel, longitudinal buildings. The northern church was better preserved and had a spacious vestibule and three aisles. It is possible only to guess at the appearance of the southern church, though the water-colours painted by Petar Zečević around the year 1840 before the fire have exceptional value in this respect. One picture shows the architecture of the early-medieval church within a renovated Baroque facade with lesenes on the northern wall. Double churches were thus built again in Salona in the tradition of basilicae geminatae, which has its roots in the architecture of late-Antiquity. Researchers realised that the double churches at Otok were replicas of the old Salona twins. They believed that the church dedicated to St. Stephen was burial church and that the other was congregational. Some thought that St. Mary's was the coronation church of the Trpimirović's Royal family. The fact that there are 10th century double churches in Solin, built by Queen Helen, confirms the twins hypothesis. In the case of Solin, however, apart from the undeniable tradition of late-Antiquity geminatae, this architecture can be connected with Carolingian influences and similar architecture in early-Medieval France and Italy, and not with the ancient heritage of Dalmatia.96Double churches in the early Middle Ages had functions belonging to the early Christian era, in that one of the remained domus episcopalis and was used for everyday service while the other was assigned for solemn liturgies connected with the new canonical discipline so reading from Aachen which divided the capitular and episcopal mensas. In the case of the Lombard examples, there was a practice of using one of such double churches in summer and the other, smaller one in winter. However, it seems that this applied specifically to the Ambrosian church. In the twins of the Middle Ages, one church was regularly consecrated as the Church of St. Mary and was usually episcopal, whereas the other had various titles. In the case of the Sol in churches, we know that Queen Helen gifted them to the Split Archbishop and it is certain that one of them, St. Mary's, is domus episcopalis. There is a record which states that they were given quibusdam regularibus for the veneration of royal tombs, which supports the notion that the other church was canonical. In some cathedrals the canons lived according to monastic rules; from the 10th century they adopted a monastic life and were called canonici regulares. St. Stephen's was therefore canonical and was used for solemn rites. It could be considered to be a burial church, because of the tombs in its vestibule. However, it might have been used for the coronation of Držislav, and of those of his heirs who became Kings of Dalmatia. St. Mary's and St. Stephen 's, edificavit et donavit by Queen Helen were probably renovated and newly-built respectively. In the Carolingian examples of double churches the larger church was used for solemn liturgies and the other was domus episcopalis, where the ancient tradition is reflected. The southern , smaller church at Otok in Soline was dedicated to Our Lady and the larger, northern one to St. Stephen, protector of the Royal House.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
110491
URI
Datum izdavanja:
11.8.1998.
Posjeta: 1.693 *