Ars: časopis Ústavu Dejín Umenia Slovenskej Akadémie Vied (43.2010)

ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES

I.

ARS 43, 2010, 1

The "Croatian Westwork" Revisited

Vladimir P. GOSS

When I pubRshed my article "The Southeastern
Border of CaroRngian Architecture" in the CAAAj*
<%rrAAÀ^/'^rin 1978,1 considered the matter mostly
closed. It was evident that within the core of the early
medieval Croatian state, the Dalmatian Highlands
around Knin, there existed a group of buildings
displaying some characteristics of the Contemporary
CaroRngian architecture, including one of the most
innovative and impressive features of medieval ar-
chitecture in general, the westwork. The buildings
could be related to the ruRng family and the highest
ofhcials of the state, and the best preserved example,
the church at the source of the Cetina, even bore
a dedication to the Saviorf Of course, my younger
colleagues have made some useful amendments,
chronology has been reňncd, one more church was
discovered in the Dalmatian Highlands, and an im-
pressive related building is being right now explored
at the other end of the country, at Lobor in Trans-
montane Croatia to the northwest of Zagrebr The
magnihcent exhibition TA?
held in SpRt in 2000 made amply manifest the Caro-

GOSS, V. P.: The South-Eastern Border of CaroRngian
Architecture. In: GAAr 27, 1978, pp. 133-148.
The text also contains a Hst of standard features adopted by
the Croats from their Frankish overlords.
^ Especiaüy JURKOVIČ, M.: Crkve s westwerkom na istočnom
Jadranu. In: PnAyzpOMýLA % Dzz/Hďrýz, 26, 1986
— 1987, pp. 61-86;JURKOVIČ, M.: Sv. Spas na vrelu Cetine i
problém wetwerka u hrvatskoj predromanici. In:
proyyA, 22,1995, pp. 55-80; JURKOVIČ, M.: LTgRse e Létat
en Croatie au IX""" siècle - le problème du massif occidental
caroHngien. In: PUn^y ďVA/z? 3, 1997, pp. 23-40.
Also MARASOVIČ, T.: Westwerk u hrvatskoj predromani-
ci. In: jpowíwbH HAA. Eds. M. JURKOVIČ
- T. LUICŠIČ. Zagreb 1996, pp. 215-223; MARASOVIČ,
T.: AH % DHzMcýz. SpRt 1994, pp.

lingian presence in the entire 9^ Century Croatia, i.e.,
the lands inhabited by the Croats, from Slavonia, to
Dubrovnik, to Dalmatia, to Istria, to western Bosnia,
in history, archeology, architecture, art, inscriptions,
and historical sources. But as I started revising the
second édition (2006) of my 1996 book on Croatian
Pre-Romanesque architecture, it dawned upon me
that in spite of my own books and articles, in spite of
Une efforts by my coReagues, in spite of the Croats
and the CaroRngians, there are quite a few points
worth reconsideringd Then Professor Barrai t Altet
asked me if 1 had anything to contribute to the THw-
A? ATČH gathering in Gent in 2006, and I did. This
was followed by a long discussion between the two
of us at the gathering, to be continued ever since.
Thanks to Professor Barrai i Altet, who forced me
into very serious rethinking, I beReve I have made
some steps forward in looking at the issue from two
points of view previously unavailable to me, those
of cultural anthropology and RnguisticsP The fact
that in the course of our everyday research my team
seems to be uncovering traces of a pre-Christian, pa-
193-209; PETRICIOLI, I.: PrRog diskusiji o starohrvatskim
crkvama s obRm kontraforima. In: PyHyh PMD, 8, 1980;
and PETRICIOLI, I.: Crkva Sv. Spasa na vrelu Cetine. In:
PAHnwA/H pTwzykAz, 22, 1995, pp. 19-28, to Rst the most
important ones. On Lobor, see FILIPEC, IC.: 10 Jahre
archäologischer Grabung in Lobor (1998 — 2007). In: PPAtf
wAHHA, 13, 2007, pp. 411-422.
^ GOSS, V P: ProRv.%z72Ě.i'y%<? ArHHAn? A CrcďÁ. Zagreb
2006.
^ Some of the materials pubRshed in this article have been also
ušed in my contribution submitted for the proceedings of the
HwzA AHH. As the future of that project remains uncertain,
Professor Barrai i Altet has given me his permission to use
them in this article, for which I am extremely grateful.

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