Sculptural ornaments Croatian pre-Romanesque art and architecture

croatian interlace inscription of king stjepan držislav 10th century.




baška tablet, famous glagolitic monument written transversal type of glagolitic script 11th century.

pre-romanesque croatian churches important historical sources of time because on beams , tympanums of altar fences, on portals , ciboriums found many names of croatian kings, dukes , nobleman mentioned patrons , builders of churches. oldest 1 church in rižinice (solin) mentions croatian duke trpimir (pro dvce trepimero), around year 850, while on inscription of duke branimir year 888 have oldest mention of croats: crvatorvm. on rest 10th century found names of dukes muncimir of croatia, držislav , svetislav, way king zvonimir end of 11th century. inscription of king zvonimir made in croatian language, written in glagolitic script (baška tablet).

double literacy , 2 scripts have been noticed in several monuments plomin tablet (istria) , valun tablet (cres, 11th century) have latin language , script croatian translation in glagolitic script. nevertheless, latin script replaced glagolitic way croats accepted still romanized medieval europe. however, croats use native language , script way 16th century, in istria, kvarner , on croatian coast.

baptistery figure of croatian king 11th century; in split cathedral.




plomin tablet

altar fences , stone perforated windows decorated shallow interlace ornament call croatian interlace. motifs of interlace of classical origin (waves, 3 string interlace, pentagrams, nets of rhomboids, etc.), while in roman art used frame, here cover entire surface. sheer number, quality of stonework, of these monuments tells of rich masonry tradition of numerous masters , workshops on east coast of adriatic. comparing thousands of fragments found in dalmatia, in northern croatia there 2 confirmed founds: 1 in lobor , 1 in ilok.

sometimes interlace replaced figures of gospels (like on altar fence of holy sunday church in zadar), figures flatten , character lines reduced graphic lines in outmost linear stylization. same relief crown hollow church of king zvonimir in solin figure of (croatian) king on throne frankish crown, beside him page, , on ground bowing subject. relief 15th century front part of baptistery in split cathedral.

in church of st. mary 11th century in bishopric (biskupija) near knin oldest figure of holy mary in croatia found.