Baptismal font of Prince Višeslav
The baptismal font of Prince Višeslav is a baptismal font of historical and cultural importance for Croatia . His inscription mentions for the first time a Croatian ruler , Prince Višeslav . The original location of the baptistery was the baptistery (chapel of St. John the Baptist ) next to the cathedral of Nin , the first royal seat of Croatian-Dalmatian princes.
The baptismal font was therefore most likely created after the founding (approx. 864–867) of the diocese of Nin and at the latest before the end of the 10th century, i.e. during the time of the Christianization of the Croats . The Croatian historian Ljubo Karaman therefore came to the conclusion "it is not too bold to assume that this very baptismal font was used for the baptism of the Croatian rulers". It is also an important work of art and a testament to the use of Croatian wickerwork .
history
From the handwritten report of the notary Ivan Sorari (1773–1847) from Zadar from 1793, when the remains of the Nin baptistery could still be seen in situ , as well as from excavations in 1910, we know that the baptistery had a four-leaf floor plan and one Had dome. In the middle of the baptistery was the baptismal font, to which one had to descend five steps.
In 1742 the baptistery, which was last used as a burial place, was demolished and the baptismal font dismantled to enable the sacristy of the cathedral to be widened. In 1853 the baptismal font was found in the Capuchin monastery Il Redentore in Venice and then exhibited in the Museo Civico Correr . In 1942, Italy handed over the baptismal font to its then political ally, the so-called Independent State of Croatia . From then on, until well after the Second World War , the baptismal font stood in the atrium of the palace of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Croatian capital Zagreb. Today the baptismal font is in the Croatian port city of Split , in the Museum of Archaeological Monuments of Croatia .
Shape and dimensions
The baptismal font is carved from a single piece of marble and has a hexagonal shape. In an adjacent side is an irregular hole (now closed) through which water was probably let in. The bottom center has a round hole for the water to drain. There are a few holes at the top of the opening that contain iron scraps. Possibly it is the remains of a fastening for a lid or a railing and they probably do not come from the time the basin was created.
The height is 88 cm, the diameter of the opening 136 cm, the depth inside 76 cm and the side width approx. 70 cm.
decoration
Each of the six sides, with the exception of the rear, is framed on the left and right by a relief column with oblique furrows, like a cord wrapped around it, with a simple base and a capital with two side volutes. These pillars carry a simply profiled architrave on which only an astragalus can be found as decoration .
On the front central surface there is a relief cross in the style of a lecture cross . The upper and the two side legs each have two volutes at their ends , which the lower leg lacks. The thigh areas are filled with Croatian wickerwork. The lower, longer leg stands on a foot, also provided with oblique furrows, as if wrapped in a cord, which tapers off.
inscription
The architrave, which also forms the edge of the opening, bears the Latin inscription:
- + HEC FONS NEMPE SVMIT INFIRMOS VT REDDAT
ILLVMINATOS · HIC EXPIANT SCELERA SVA QVOD
DE PRIMO SVMPSERVNT PARENTE · VT EFFICIANTV
R XPISTICOLE SALVBRITER CONFITENDO TRINVEMIT PER
HENNE ·
TVSORE VISSE COMPOS
On the fifth side of the baptismal font, i.e. under the fifth line, it says:
- IN HONORE VIDELICET SANCTI
The sixth page bears the end of the inscription in two lines:
- IOHANNIS BAPTISTE, VT INTERCEDAT PRO EO
CLIENTVLOQVE SVO
The inscription is chiseled in a regular Capitalis rustica and the height of the letters varies between 6.0 and 6.5 cm. The stonemason used a large number of ligatures , contractions, suspensions, the abbreviation for TRINVM (trinity) and the special character for the word component PER in the word PERHENNE (eternal).
The German translation of the inscription reads:
- This source receives the weak in order to return them as enlightened ones. Here they atone for the wrongdoings that they took over from the first Father so that they could become followers of Christ , bearing witness to the eternal Trinity . This work was beautifully made in humility by the priest John in the time of Prince Višeslav, in honor of St. John the Baptist, so that he could become his and his protégé's advocate.
The Roman Catholic Church in Croatia says about the inscription on the "shiny monument and symbol of the baptism of our Croatian ancestors ":
“ When Presbyter Ivan - mentioned in the inscription - was supposed to write the text that was to be chiseled into the limited space provided by the baptismal font, he was forced to select only what he did from the extensive Christian doctrine of baptism, and ours in general Milieu, considered to be the most significant and important of the mystery of baptism, so that it would then be constantly before the eyes of those who were baptized in this baptismal font through the inscription in the stone. This is why the inscription can serve as an excellent testimony to how our ancestors gave St. Baptism and what they believed to be essential in baptism. [...] our monument screams, so to speak - to express us figuratively - that baptism is associated with living personal faith; [...] "
Others
The cross shown on the baptismal font contains Croatian wickerwork and is therefore called the “Croatian Cross” ( Hrvatski križ ). As a national symbol, it stands, among other things, for the faith, artistic creation and the history of Croatia.
It is therefore used in Croatia by church institutions, but also as a general national symbol. It can be found on the official award documents of the Republic of Croatia or you can purchase the cross as a necklace or wall decoration.
literature
- Mirko Šeper: The baptismal font of the Croatian prince Višeslav from the early Middle Ages . Self-published by the German Institute for Merovingian-Carolingian Art Research in Erlangen, 1959, DNB 458789747 .
- Rade Mihaljčić, Ludwig Steindorff (Ed.): Name-bearing stone inscriptions in Yugoslavia from the end of the 7th to the middle of the 13th century (= glossary on early medieval history in Eastern Europe: supplements ). Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 978-3-515-03873-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Dr. Luka Jelić: Spomenica grada Nina (The monuments of the town of Nin). In: Vjesnik Hrvatskog arheološkog društva , Nove serije sveska VI. Zagreb, 1902, p. 104.
- ^ Mirko Šeper: The baptismal font of the Croatian prince Višeslav from the early Middle Ages. Self-published by the German Institute for Merovingian-Carolingian Art Research in Erlangen, 1957/58, p. 4 u. 10.
- ^ Ljubo Karaman: Živa starina: Petdeset slika iz vremena hrvatskih narodnih vladara. (Living antiquities: fifty pictures from the time of the Croatian rulers). Hrvatski izdavalački bibliografski zavod , Zagreb 1943, p. 44.
- ^ Mirko Šeper: The baptismal font of the Croatian prince Višeslav from the early Middle Ages. Self-published by the German Institute for Merovingian-Carolingian Art Research in Erlangen, 1957/58, p. 3.
- ↑ Prince Višeslav's Baptismal Font - Importance of Personal Faith. In: Pastoral letter of the Croatian bishops: Thirteen centuries of Christianity among Croatians. Kršćanska sadašnjost, Zagreb 1976, p. 20 f.