St. Mary of the Assumption (Rab)

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Former Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary (Rab). View of the church from the bell tower.

The parish church of St. Mary of the Assumption ( Croatian Katedrala Uznesenja Blažene Djevice Marije ) is a medieval sacral building in the Croatian town of Rab on the island of Rab in the Kvarner Bay . It is the largest parish church in the city and was a cathedral until the diocese of Rab was abolished in 1828 .

History and appearance

St. Mary of the Assumption. West facade.
North aisle.
Inside view.

Recent excavations provided with finds of architectural decoration, remains of a baptistery and a mosaic under the chancel evidence of an early Christian predecessor of the 5th or 6th century. Some features that still point to the old age of the church can also be seen in the rising masonry of the existing building. These include the polygonal outer shape of the central apse and (possibly secondary) capitals in the interior.

In the late 8th / early 9th century, the church was extensively rebuilt and its core was given its current appearance as a three-aisled basilica six bays in length. The side aisles, which are halfway across the main nave, are separated from each other by arches of five pairs of columns. A richly ornamented ciborium above today's main altar is still preserved from the furnishings from that time . Another renovation took place in the 11th century, as a result of which the two lateral apses were added. In the middle of the 12th century the western part of the church was rebuilt. Pope Alexander III consecrated the facade, which was under strong Tuscan influence, in 1177 , which was built alternately from white limestone and red breccia and probably overlaid on the original west end. The upper facade area, originally also planned in arcade positions, was no longer executed. According to a building inscription, the construction work was not completed until 1278. The Romanesque portal , from which the column bases have been preserved, probably had a prothyron , a small vestibule. It was replaced from 1490 when the facade was redesigned. The expressive Pietà by the sculptor Petar von Trogir in the round arch above the portal dates from 1514.

Between 1997 and 2005, the church was comprehensively documented and restored, and for this it was awarded a Europa Nostra Prize for the “ comprehensive investigation, careful restoration and didactic presentation of one of the most important medieval monuments in Croatia ”.

Furnishing

The interior has extensive equipment from different epochs. The already mentioned, essentially pre-Romanesque ciborium was redesigned by Petar von Trogir. The font also comes from his hand. The choir stalls of the raised presbytery were created around 1445 in the workshop of the Venetian woodcarver Matteo Moronzone di Andrea . A marble statue of Christ enthroned is an 11th century work. A high Gothic sculpture of the Virgin Mary with the child comes from the 14th century.

Numerous precious liturgical objects , including enamelled copper plates and a shrine of a head reliquary of St. Christopher from the 12th century as well as a colored crucifix from the Renaissance are kept in the treasury of the church.

Bell tower
View of the bell tower from the west facade of the church.
Bell tower. View into the late medieval vault with access to the tower walkway.

Bell tower

The free-standing Romanesque bell tower of the former cathedral stands about 100 meters east of the main portal on the upper main street of the old town ( Gornja ulica ), directly on the edge of the Rab Bay. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Benedictine convent of St. Andreas .

The 26 meter high tower dates from the 12th century and is one of the most famous medieval monuments in Dalmatia . It consists of high quality stone blocks, the floors are separated by cornices richly decorated with architectural decorations . The windows and sound openings are opened from bottom to top as mono- , bi- , tri- and finally monumental quadriforias .

The end of the tower with the walkway and the roof with its stone vault were redesigned after a lightning strike in the 15th century.

The former cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Rab and its bell tower can be visited.

literature

  • M. Domijan, Rab grad umjetnosti. Barbat, Zagreb, 2001.
  • M. Domijan, Rab u srednjem vijeku, Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških starina, Split, 2004.
  • M. Jarak, Plutej s otoka Raba iz kasnijega 6. ili 7. stoljeća, Opvscvla Arhæologica (2005.), 29., pp. 275-286
  • T. Marasović, T .: Tipologija predromaničkih i romaničkih zvonika u Dalmaciji, Rapski zbornik, JAZU i Skupština općine Rab, Zagreb, 1987, 289-296.
  • K. Regan, B. Nadilo, Stare crkve otoka Raba (Old churches on the island of Rab) . (PDF) In: Građevinar . 61, No. 10, 2009, pp. 969-981. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  • Ž.Tomičić, Arheološka svjedočanstva o ranobizantskom vojnom graditeljstvu na sjevernojadranskim otocima, Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju (1988./1989.), 5/6, pp. 29-53.
  • P. Vežić, Prilog poznavanju tipoloških osobina starokršćanskih bazilika u Dalmaciji, Rapski zbornik, JAZU i Skupština općine Rab, Zagreb, 1987, pp. 297-300.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Crkva Uznesenja Blažene Djevice Marije. Retrieved October 25, 2019 .
  2. ↑ The Cathedral in Rab.Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Information board of the Rab Island Tourist Board (August 2019).
  4. ↑ Island of Rab: Historical and Cultural Monuments! Perl of Mediterranean Architecture! In: rab-croatia.com. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Krešimir Regan, Branko Nadilo: Stare crkve otoka Raba . In: Građevinar. Journal of the Croatian Association of Civil Engineers . tape 61 , no. 10 , 2009, ISSN  0350-2465 , p. 969-981, here in particular 971-974 .
  6. ^ Miljenko Jurković: Carolingian Renovatio. Architecture and building equipment in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: Christian Lübke, Matthias Hardt (Ed.): 400-1000. From the late antique legacy to the beginnings of the Romanesque. Handbook on the history of art in East Central Europe. tape 1 . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin / Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-422-06958-9 , pp. 188–201, especially 193–196, Fig. 133 .
  7. ↑ Rapska katedrala dobila priznanje Europa Nostra. September 12, 2006, accessed October 25, 2019 (Croatian).
  8. ↑ Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Rab. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (British English).
  9. ↑ Barbara Španjol-Pandelo: Contribution to the Study of Matteo di Andrea Moronzon . In: Ars Adriatica . No. 6 , December 19, 2016, ISSN  1848-1590 , p. 103-120 ( srce.hr [accessed October 25, 2019]).

Coordinates: 44 ° 45 ′ 14.9 "  N , 14 ° 45 ′ 43.1"  E