Post 24 Veljača 2017

By Sagita Mirjam Sunara

Hitovi: 605

Friday - April 21st 2017

The second day of the conference is reserved for an excursion for active participants (i.e. presentation and poster authors, their mentors and guests) to the area south and southeast of Zagreb that encompasses the confluence of the rivers Sava and Kupa and the historical region of Turopolje. This area is rich in multiple cultural influences spanning from prehistory over the Celtic Age and the Antiquity to Late Antiquity and the Migration Period, with the medieval culture being extensively researched lately.

The focal point, Segestica to the Celts, Siscia to the Romans and an early medieval Christian centre, the city of Sisak, known today for its early industrial architecture and its rapid decline after the fall of the socialist regime, is being recognised of late and efforts are put into its validating and conservation. During the Ottoman conquest, the region, once covered in forests, fields, pastures and inhabited by lower nobility, was devastated and depopulated, up until the Baroque era, when under the influence of traditional culture we see a reflourishing of authentic religious and secular art. Quaint wooden churches, with ornamentally decorated exteriors and lavishly painted interiors and rich polychrome furnishings represent extremely valuable ensembles, well coalesced with their surroundings. Unfortunately, during the Croatian War of Independence, many of the buildings were targeted and their frailty in today's eroded cultural and ecological system demands of our profession exemplary activity for their preservation.

The chapel of Saint Barbara in Velika Mlaka, once an unassuming village chapel, was constructed in the 17th century, with additions made throughout the 18th and 19th century. Conservation-restoration work was carried out during the 1990s and the church now represents a uniform complex of exceptional value, with a few iconographical curiosities that will surely pique our interest.

The chapel of Saint John the Baptist (Saint Apostle) in Buševac is an example of recent conservation work, that has seen this piece of folk religious architecture be rescued from deterioration. The chapel was erected in the 17th century and extended in the 18th, so that the chapel space became its new sanctuary. It is lavishly painted in the folk manner, dating from the second half of the 17th century. It is home to a valuable altar from the end of the 17th century, that by a Johannes Komersteiner's follower. The unknown sculptor from Tyrol introduced this region with elements of European Baroque sculpture.

Letovanić is a village near the river Kupa, and the chapel of Saint Fabian and Sebastian, built in the 18th century with a 20th-century porch, resonates even today with the traditional way of life in this area. The recent renovation of the chapel and restoration of its completely painted interior introduced a spirit of renewal into the village, once known for its traditional architecture and richly embroidered clothing. The ethnographic collection in a nearby traditional wooden house preserves fragments of rural life.

Conservation-restoration work in the Chapel of Saint Martin in Stari Brod has been awarded this year's Europa Nostra award in the category of heritage preservation. The work was carried out by the Croatian Conservation Institute in cooperation with the Diocese of Sisak. The chapel was built in the early 17th century, and expanded, painted and furnished during the 18th century. Over time it had been exposed to numerous floods, it deteriorated, and during the War of Independence its furnishings were evacuated. Despite all this, it has been in liturgical function all that time and can be seen today in its entirety.

The chapel of Saint John the Baptist in Stara Drenčina displays a historical stratigraphy from the 17th century till today, including the injuries it had suffered in 1991, during the War of Independence. The damage brought forward older layers and painted surfaces of its interior. The construction of the chapel was taken apart during the renovation and again assembled into a representative whole, together with its valuable interior.

The chapel of Saint Peter and Paul in Bok Palanječki is situated in the middle of the village at the bend of river Sava. Next to it are a few traditionally built village houses, called čardak, with stone spolia from ancient Siscia that were discovered in the foundations of one of them. The chapel and its rich polychrome furnishings are undergoing very complex conservation-restoration work, as a result of years of neglect, including its wooden construction being overlaid with inadequate plaster that has drastically deteriorated the wood.

The excursion will end in Sisak, with lunch in a restaurant located in the historical fortress of the Old Town, overlooking the river Sava. This lowland fortification, built in the 16th century, played a crucial part in protecting the Croatian territory in the Battle of Sisak in 1593, between Ottoman forces and a Habsburg Christian army from the Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. Today it houses the Sisak Municipal Museum.

Author: Zvjezdana Jembrih, translation: Barbara Horvat Kavazović, editor: Miona Muštra