Medieval and Renaissance Culture of Croatia

Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
This topic is about rich culture that flourished from fall of the Roman Empire to the end of 16. Century in Croatia.

I will start with one of my favorites. Church of Sv. Spas (eng. Church of Holy Salvation) on the source of river Cetina. Built by local landlord Gastika between 9. and 10. Century.

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more info:
Church of Holy Salvation, Cetina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Joined Apr 2013
2,544 Posts | 0+
U.K.
Very nice pictures.
Croatia is one of the countries, I most struggle to understand, in terms of gaining some cultural bearings, I don't know why that is, it may well be because you're tucked away down there, between Europe and the East, :) or it might be something to do with the cultural complexity, and that may be down to modern times, geographic divisions, rather than the renaissance period and before...

Do you personally find we foreigners are like that when it comes to Croatia, as we say over here - we're pretty much "clueless"?
 
Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Last edited:
The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik
Dalmatia region
UNESCO World heritage site.
The Cathedral was built from 1402 till 1536 in Gothic and Renaissance style.
Built by stone alone

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Photo by Ivan Coric

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by Damir Alter Matijevic

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by tmizo

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Famous portraits on the fascade
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by kpmst7

more info:
?ibenik Cathedral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Last edited:
Very nice pictures.
Croatia is one of the countries, I most struggle to understand, in terms of gaining some cultural bearings, I don't know why that is, it may well be because you're tucked away down there, between Europe and the East, :) or it might be something to do with the cultural complexity, and that may be down to modern times, geographic divisions, rather than the renaissance period and before...

Do you personally find we foreigners are like that when it comes to Croatia, as we say over here - we're pretty much "clueless"?

Well, Croatia is complex in terms of Culture, and that is our biggest treasure. We don't see ourselves as Tucked down :lol:
Antic Greeks were here (some of our cities in the coast are founded as their colonies), Romans were here, Byzantines, Frankish empire, Goths, Avars, Croatians,Hungarians, Germans, Turks... Our culture is mixture of Mediterranean, Central European and Oriental ("Balkan") ones. I think it is interesting mix.

As for foreigners, well, we always had tourist's coming here, so some of them know something, some know much and some know nothing. It depends.
 
Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Last edited:
Trakoschan Castle,
Zagorje region, North Croatia
Dates back to the 13th century (first written mention is in 1334).
This famous, and among the best preserved castles in Croatia, had many owners, but it's most famous ones are family Drashkovich. This old Croatian nobility were owners of the castle till 1945. In the 19th century Trakošćan acquired its present appearance. In the 1840-1862 period, during one among the first restoration undertakings in the country, the castle was reconstructed in Neo-Gothic style.

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by Tihomir Gržinčić Panoramio

more info:
Trako??an Castle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Joined Apr 2013
2,544 Posts | 0+
U.K.
Well, Croatia is complex in terms of Culture, and that is our biggest treasure. We don't see ourselves as Tucked down :lol:
Antic Greeks were here (some of our cities in the coast are founded as their colonies), Romans were here, Byzantines, Frankish empire, Goths, Avars, Croatians,Hungarians, Germans, Turks... Our culture is mixture of Mediterranean, Central European and Oriental ("Balkan") ones. I think it is interesting mix.

As for foreigners, well, we always had tourist's coming here, so some of them know something, some know much and some know nothing. It depends.

:) It reminds me a little of a trip I had to the island of Sardinia, and I turned up at a local archeological dig, and they were working on an ampitheatre, but when you looked at the guide books, and the book for this site in particular, many cultures had been there, a few of the cultures you mention, perhaps all of them, so I know what you mean... and it does make for an interesting mix.
More great pictures, really gives you a feel for it.
Tourists, huh, oh well - you can't have everything hey. :lol:
 
Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Euphrasian Basilica
Porec, Istria region, Croatia
UNESCO World heritage site
Built in 553. AD, during reign of Bysantine Emperor Justinian I

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by wrightrkuk, on Flickr


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by kpmst7, on Flickr


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by Sobrecroacia.com, on Flickr


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by peterphotographic, on Flickr


more info:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrasian_Basilica]Euphrasian Basilica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


Bonus some medieval houses in Porec
Gothic 15. century
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Romanesque 13th Century
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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Ivan Duknovich (also known as Giovanni Duknovich di Traù, Ioannes Stephani Duknovich de Tragurio or Giovanni Dalmata), (c. 1440 – c. 1514). One of the most prominent Renaissance sculptors from Croatia.

Just few exhamples

puto
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source:Ivan Duknovi?, great renaissance sculptor | Valentino's blog

The Virgin and Child
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source:Ivan Duknovi?, great renaissance sculptor | Valentino's blog

Portrait of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia
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Thomas the Apostle
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Chapel of Ivan Ursini in Trogir (with Andrija Aleshi and Nikola Firentinac)
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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Dux Trpimir I of Croatia, one of the most important early native medieval rulers of Croatia. He established a dynasty that would rule Croatia as dukes and later kings for next 250 years. He built a church and the first Benedictine monastery in Rizinice, between the towns of Klis and Solin, in 852. AD. In the insignia on the monastery, carved in stone, stands a text with the duke's name and title. Till today this is the earliest found stone inscription of any Croatian ruler.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Gravestone of Nikola Iločki, 1477
Ilok, Slavonia region

Nicholas of Ilok (Croatian: Nikola Iločki, Hungarian: Újlaki Miklós; 1410–1477) was Ban of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia and Macsó, Voivode of Transylvania and Titular King of Bosnia from 1471 until his death.
A member of the Iločki noble family, he was one of the richest landowners in the Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia and one of its most influential magnates. The House of Ilok was a Croatian noble family, descended in the male line from Gug (in some sources Göge), a member of the lower nobility in the region of Lower Slavonia during the 13th century.

Gravestone in the Church of St. John of Capistrano in Ilok, Croatia
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Church of St. John of Capistrano with Franciscan monaestery and medieval walls in Ilok
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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
The Bunić-Kabužić summer retreat house
Dubrovnik area

The House of Bunić, or House of (de) Bona, was a Croatian noble family from the Republic of Ragusa – present-day Dubrovnik. They built this summer retreat in the first half of 16. century.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Veliki Tabor Castle
Zagroje region

Veliki Tabor is a fortress and museum in northwest Croatia, dating from the 12th century. The castle gained its final appearance in the 16th century.
Most of it was built by the Croatian noble family Rattkay, in whose ownership it remained till 1793.

Restoration
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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Fort Nehaj
Senj, Kvarner region

It was built in 1558 by Croatian army general Ivan Lenković, a captain of the Uskoks, on the hill Nehaj.
The Uskoks (Croatian: Uskoci) were Croatian Habsburg soldiers that inhabited the areas of the eastern Adriatic and the surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a fairly successful guerrilla war against the Ottomans and Venice.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Sponza Palace, 1522
Dubrovnik

The Palace was built by architects Paskoje Miličević i brothers Andrijić for the Dubrovnik government.

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by Marie-Hélène Cingal, on Flickr


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by Anosmia, on Flickr


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by anagarika, on Flickr
 
Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Church of St. Donatus, 9. century
Zadar, Dalmatia region


Donatus of Zadar (an Irishman who became a Dalmatian bishop and a diplomat for the city of Zadar.), began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. Originally named (and dedicated to) the church of the Holy Trinity, in the 15th century it was renamed the Church of St. Donatus.
Church of St. Donatus is the largest Pre-romanesque building in Croatia. It is also one of the most impressive churches of centralised type of the Carolingian period in Europe.


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by w34a Damir Alter Mat…, Panoramio

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Fortress of Klis
Split, Dalmatia region

The Klis Fortress (Croatian: Tvrđava Klis) is a medieval fortress situated above a village bearing the same name, near the city of Split, in central Dalmatia, Croatia. From its origin as a small stronghold built by the ancient Illyrian tribe Dalmatae, becoming a royal castle that was the seat of many Croatian kings, to its final development as a large fortress during the Ottoman wars in Europe, Klis Fortress has guarded the frontier, being lost and re-conquered several times throughout its more than two thousand year-long history. Since Prince Mislav of Littoral Croatia made Klis Fortress the seat of his throne in the middle of the 9th century, the fortress served as the seat of many Croatia's rulers. The reign of his successor, Duke Trpimir I, the founder of the Croatian royal House of Trpimirović, is significant for spreading Christianity in the Littoral Croatia. He largely expanded the Klis Fortress, and in Rižinice, in the valley under the fortress, he built a church and the first Benedictine monastery in Croatia. During the reign of the first Croatian king, Tomislav, Klis and Biograd na Moru were his chief residences.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Baška tablet, 11. century
Krk island, Kvarner region

Baška tablet (Croatian: Bašćanska ploča, pronounced [bâʃt͡ɕanskaː plɔ̂t͡ʃa]) is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from the year 1100. The inscribed stone slab records King Zvonimir's donation of a piece of land to a Benedictine abbey. The inscription is written in the Glagolitic script, exhibiting features of Church Slavonic of Croatian recension. It provides the only example of transition from Glagolitic of the rounded Macedonian type to the angular Croatian alphabet.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Hrvoje's Missal, 15. Century

The Hrvoje's Missal (Croatian: Hrvojev misal) is a 15th-century Croatian Glagolitic missal, often considered the most beautiful and the most interesting Croatian Glagolitic book. This liturgical book was written in Split by the resident calligrapher and glagolitic scribe Butko in 1404 for Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić (Kotor around 1350–1416) who was a Ban of Croatia, Grand Duke of Bosnia and a Herzog of Split. Hrvoje Vukčić was the most prominent member of the House of Hrvatinić and the strongest of the three main large feudalists of early feudal medieval Bosnia.

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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Juraj Julije Klovich
Juraj Julije Klović or Giorgio Giulio Clovio(1498 Grižane, Kingdom of Croatia - 1578, Rome, Papal state) was an Croatian illuminator, miniaturist, and painter, who was mostly active in Renaissance Italy. He is considered the greatest illuminator of the Italian High Renaissance, and arguably the last very notable artist in the long tradition of the illuminated manuscript.

Portrait of Klovich by El Greco
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Klovich's works:

An illuminated page from his Colonna missal'
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Adoration of the Magi and Solomon Adored by the Queen of Sheba from the Farnese Hours
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Clovio's patron, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, from the Farnese Hours
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Joined Oct 2013
58 Posts | 0+
Croatia
Missale Romanum Glagolitice is a Croatian language missal and incunabula printed in 1483. It is written in Glagolitic script and is the first printed Croatian book. It is the first missal in Europe not published in Latin script. Its editio princeps, unique in the achieved typographic artistry, was published only 28 years after the Gutenberg bible's 42-lines, bears witness of high cultural attainment and maturity of Croatian Glagolites and Croatian mediaeval literature. Date of the printing (22 February 1483) is shown in the colophon, but the place of printing of still remains to be identified. According to some researchers, it was printed in Venice, but recent research assume suggests that it might have been printed in Kosinj in the Lika region, Kingdom of Croatia. Eleven incomplete copies and six fragments have been preserved, five of which are held in Zagreb: two in the National and University Library, and two in the library of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The Franciscan monastery in Zagreb and the Dominican monastery on the island of Brač have one copy each. The other five copies are kept in the Library of Congress in Washington, in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, in the Austrian National Library in Vienna and in the Vatican Library (two copies).


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