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Mirje - A Late Antique Cenobium on Mali brig Above Postira
Vanja Kovačić
; Konzervatorski odjel Ministarstva kulture Split
Sažetak
The site of Mirje on Mali Brig above Postira is a Roman villa rustica complex converted into a Late Antique cenobium. Enclosed by a perimeter wall and architecturally articulated with buildings around the rim of the complex and internal courtyards, it has preserved numerous remains of architectural decoration. The symbolism of relief slabs and the Christ monogram indicate the monastic character of this Early Christian community in the rural setting of the island of Brač. The elongated trapezoidal ground plan of the architectural complex was conditioned by the pattern of existing communications in the agrarian landscape.
The north to south external perimeter was 53 m long, and the east-west width was about 30 m. The main entry was on the south west, giving access into a long rectangular space like a propugnaculum or defensive court that led into the yard. Parallel to the outer wall was a portico with six stone monolithic pillars, the central two having a wider span. The square bases of these pillars were made out of the moulded architrave of some older building, cut into six parts and re-carved, slightly tapering on the outer sides. The bases of a new, Late Antique portico were formed by the reutilisation and re-carving of the cornice of some piece of monumental Roman architecture. Excavations in the south east part of Mirje revealed parts of square, massive acanthus-decorated capitals that might have belonged to the columns of the portico. The portico extended along the western façade, which had avants-corps at the ends, like lateral towers on the outside. This kind of composition of the façade with the longitudinal portico-observation point towards the sea channel was a common element of the Roman villa rustica. Although the portico was linked on the façade by two prominent avants-corps, their internal arrangement was different according to their purposes. On the south west there was a square cross-vaulted room with small antechambers, while in the north west tower there was a thermal installation also in the wider space of this complex, which was extended with an additional cistern wing. In the back on the north eastern part of the complex there was a rear entrance meant more for the residential and thermal part, composed diagonally with respect to the main entrance with its defensive courtyard. In the horizontal stratigraphy of the site, in the central area around a large room (a church?) and close to the southern ante-chamber the largest number of pluteus fragments and parts of an altar screen dating to the 6th century were found. The motifs and the stone-working of the plutei belong to the same time and cultural circle as in the neighbouring churches in Postira and Lovrečina Bay, especially the crosses, the scale and lattice motifs, as well as the basket-weave motif.
Some slabs are decorated on their fronts and back with a simple edge moulding, and probably belonged to various parapet slabs that in the space are seen from both walls, like a partition in the thermal complex or the rails on the top of theterrace of the cisterns. Other slabs are decorated on the fronts with motifs of religious iconography (crosses, sheep, lions, the Christ monograph with ivy, plant motifs, scales, ichthys motifs, the basket-weave motif, grid with rhomboid fields, grid with an octagon in the centre, a rhomboid field with corner rosettes), while on the rear they are completely smooth or have just a shallow moulded strip at the edge. These examples are related exclusively to the altar screen, the furnishing of a religious building and of its auxiliary rooms. The connection of old and more recent finds and comparisons with similar examples in other Dalmatian sites has enabled the collation of this body of architectural decoration.
Other architectural elements apart from the plutei were found like the monumental architrave with the central Christ monogram, a Latin cross and a cross
in an oval medallion. The Christ monogram with the six arms is the basic iconographic sign at the time of the Theodosian dynasty, in a sacred space, on sarcophagi, wall mosaics and particularly on coins where it appears crowned with a laurel wreath. On the plutei of the Brač 6th century workshops, instead of the laurel wreath crown, a smooth medallion was used, in which a cross was inscribed, while at the bottom strips with ivy stand out. The apotropaic power and consecratory role of this sign were intended for those who »enter into a consecrated
space«. Doors and windows are places for the possible ingress of evil from the instability of the external world, and the Christ monograph is thus an emblem that protects the interior of the church and the monastery.
The favourable strategic position of Mirje enabled surveillance of the whole navigational route along the coast between the mouth of the Cetina River and the bay of Salona, where the centre of the province of Dalmatia and the metropolis lay. The Late Antique complex was set apart on a hill over a settlement of the northern shore of Brač in which a stylistically uniform stratum of Early Christian churches with baptisteries of the first half of the 6th century was revealed. The horizontal stratigraphy of the finds of architectural decoration and their greatest concentration in some of the parts of Mirje enables the church to be located in the central part of the complex. It is actually the position of the biggest room, together with its proportions, that corresponds to the function of a liturgical space, and the diverse ornamental and symbolic repertoire is confined to the furnishing of altar rails, with features of local stone-carving workshops.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
240661
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.6.2020.
Posjeta: 1.185 *