The Cathedral of the Assumption ot the Virgin in Dubrovnik
Editor-in-chief
Katarina Horvat Levaj
Editors
Igor Fisković, Daniel Premerl, Ivan Viđen, Danko Zelić
Reviewers
Joško Belamarić, Vladimir Marković
Authors
Miho Demović, Igor Fisković, Katarina Horvat-Levaj, Marin Ivanović, Jelena Ivoš, Vjera Katalinić, Vinicije B. Lupis, Milan Pelc, Daniel Premerl, Radoslav Tomić, Stanislav Tuksar, Ivan Viđen, Danko Zelić
Translators
Rebbeca E. McKay
Tijana Gojić
Tanja Trška
Professional associates
Paolo Mofardin (photopgraphs), Ivan Tenšek and Ivana Valjato-Vrus (architectural drawings), Lara Hölbling Matković (proof-reading), David Kiš (indices)
Publishers
City Parish of the Assumption, Dubrovnik – Institute of Art History, Zagreb – ArTresor Publishers, Zagreb
Layout and design
Franjo Kiš, ArTresor Publishers
Publishing series and number
Studies and monographs of the Institute of Art History, book 46
Material description
592 pp; illustrations in colour; catalogue of art works, documents, sources, literature, indices
ISBN: 978-953-56060-2-4, 978-953-7875-21-3, 978-953-8012-11-2
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This monograph brings together for the first time in one place the comprehensive contemporary literature on the cathedral, interpreting this exceptional monument and the entire historical and cultural complex in its regional, Adriatic, and I would say even Mediterranean context – and not just during the emergence of the Baroque building that we see today, but also the earlier phases, which are attested to primarily by the archaeological findings. However, the book is not just a synthesis of contemporary texts and concepts. It brings to light an astonishing number of new, rigorously scientific, analytical insights on numerous problems that were previously only mentioned in passing. In a series of balanced chapters, the authors succeed in creating for the first time a complete and precise reconstruction of the chronology of the construction and furnishing of the Dubrovnik cathedral, with a convincing reconstruction of the individual building phases and an equally convincing interpretation of the genesis of the stylistic features of each of them. The book goes beyond all similar domestic publication projects and establishes a scientific paradigm that, we hope, other authors will follow in their own writing about cathedrals in Split, Trogir, Zadar, Rab, Poreč or Zagreb – to mention just a few of those that are deserving of the same scientific rigour.
― Joško Belamarić
For the extensive task of publishing this monograph, a series of distinguished Croatian experts were assembled that had already worked with monuments in the city of Dubrovnik, and in particular the architecture of the cathedral, including the history of its construction and the works of art and historical objects that are kept within the Dubrovnik Diocese. The result of their collaboration is impressive. The monograph spans 590 pages and offers a wealth of material including architectural drawings, graphic diagrams and reconstructions, photographs of architecture, paintings, sculptures and other objects and documents of artistic and historic importance. The texts in the monograph are accompanied by documentation, which enables a better insight into the themes discussed in the book. These documents contain and catalogue the artworks of the Baroque cathedral: there are 365 catalogued pieces of furniture, altars, paintings, sculptures, liturgical vestments, church bells, votive offerings, relics, liturgical objects, plaques with inscriptions on the walls of the cathedral, and books.
― Vladimir Marković
The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin in Dubrovnik (1671 – 1713) occupies a prominent place among Croatian cathedral buildings. Emerging during the reconstruction of the city after the earthquake in 1667, the monumental three-aisled Baroque basilica with a dome uniquely combined not only the high aesthetic standards of the Dubrovnik commissioners and the Roman architect, but also the individual leaders of construction from Rome, Sicily and Dubrovnik. The interior furnishings are equally as important and exquisite – marble altars ordered in Naples, Carrara and Genoa, numerous paintings by Italian and Flemish painters as well as painters from Dubrovnik – and the special phenomenon that is the Reliquary of the cathedral with almost two hundred relics, gathered from the 10th to the 21st century. The Baroque cathedral was preceded by two older buildings – one dating from Late Antiquity / Byzantium and the other Romanesque – the archaeological remains of these churches, including frescoes and fragments of sculpture, testify to the high level of quality in the artworks of the disappeared buildings. Inspired by the high quality of the architecture and artworks, and prompted by the commission of the City Parish the Institute of Art History began to draft the monograph with experts in their respective fields. The tricentennial of the completion of the cathedral offered a strong additional motive. In addition to contemporary knowledge, the monograph includes new scientific facts based on field and archive research in Dubrovnik and comparative research in Italy. The high value of the Dubrovnik cathedral in the European context called for editions in both Croatian and English.
Contents
11
Preface
Mate Uzinić, Bishop of Dubrovnik
15
The sanctuary of the living church
Stanko Lasić, Cathedral Parisch priest
25
The historical interpretation of the cathedral
Katarina Horvat-Levaj, editor
The cathedral from the beginnings of the city to the earthquake of 1667
31
Architecture of the old cathedrals
Danko Zelić
69
Artwork and decoration of the old cathedrals
Igor Fisković
The baroque cathedral from the reconstruction following the earthquake of 1667 to the present
121
The architecture of the baroque cathedral
Katarina Horvat-Levaj
189
Origin of the architectural type and its context
Katarina Horvat-Levaj
The furnishing of the baroque cathedral
215
A century of furnishing the baroque cathedral
Daniel Premerl
271
Paintings in the cathedral
Radoslav Tomić
319
Liturgical objects and votive offerings
Vinicije B. Lupis
339
Liturgical vestments
Jelena Ivoš
353
Old books in the cathedral
Milan Pelc
359
The cathedral organ throughout the centuries
Miho Demović
381
The cathedral music collection
Vjera Katalinić – Stanislav Tuksar
399
The reliquary
Vinicije B. Lupis
443
The cathedral from the beginning of the 19th century to the present
Ivan Viđen
479
The restoration of the cathedral after the earthquake of 1979
Marin Ivanović
494
Catalogue of art works in the baroques cathedral
537
Documents, sources, lirature, indices