Part 21
The Greek church has a very interesting belfry of late Renaissance style in the gable; two arches with projecting semicircular pierced balustrades for the ringers, and the bells (which are clappered) hanging in the free space beneath the arch above. A third bell is in a higher arch without the balustrading. The Greek Christians celebrate the Church festivals with processions about the town, treated with great respect by their Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, of which one held on the Assumption may be described as typical. Boys and girls with garlands led the way, followed by women with coloured aprons and voluminous draperies. Then came a band in gay uniforms and plumed head-gear, then priests in vestments of cloth of gold, swinging silver censers, or bearing holy pictures; they were big men of fine appearance, with religious earnestness in their faces. In the middle, under a silken canopy with gold fringes, a higher ecclesiastic walked, a venerable figure, with long silver hair and beard, bearing the most holy object and looking like a high-priest, surrounded as he was with clouds of incense. After the priests came a long line of men in country costume, powerful figures with flashing eyes, and faces full of character. They held themselves upright like soldiers, and bore large white tapers fastened four together. The sides of the narrow streets were lined with Roman Catholics who looked on with sympathetic interest at the religious ceremonies of their fellow-citizens of a different creed, an example which might be commended to sects nearer home.
The people are hospitable, and very generous, but proud, and, like the Spaniards, easily moved both to acts of violence and kindness. There is no nobility, the patrician families being either extinct or impoverished, partly owing to a severe epidemic of smallpox which smote the town in 1872. The men wear a ridiculous small red cap, like that worn at Zara, but smaller, often requiring an elastic round the back of the head to keep it on, and waistcoats and coats ornamented with large silver buttons of filigree work (older examples of which are works of art, but the modern mere articles of commerce). The collar is curious, with a facing of red or black worsted, apparently intended to imitate fur (shown in the drawing of the costume). The trousers are dark blue, with a slit towards the ankle, laced up with silver wire, and strong shoes are worn with turned-up toes covered with hide lacings. The women have a white head-dress, a cloth twisted round and fastened to the hair in the manner of that worn at Lussin Piccolo. One of the waiters at the restaurant who came from Spalato, but whose side-whiskers stamped him as an Austrian, told us he had been in Glasgow and other British towns--a rather unusual thing with the men of his class, though many of the sailors are acquainted with British ports. The dustmen reminded one of the days of one's childhood when in England; they went round ringing a bell and calling "Dust-ooh!" At the sound all kinds of refuse were brought out to the cart, which went slowly along the narrow street.
Sebenico was the birthplace of the celebrated Nicolò Tommaseo, to whom a statue has been erected in the public garden below the piazza, where Sanmichele's gate stands. He was born in 1802, and was philologist, philosopher, historian, poet, novelist, critic, psychologist, statist, politician, and orator, leaving behind him, when he died in 1874, some two hundred works. In its time of prosperity the city owned several islands, of which Zlarin is the most populous and the richest.
Sebenico is the usual starting-point for the excursion to the Kerka falls; and, on the arrival of the boat, tourists make arrangements to share carriages. It is a drive of about twelve miles, through a barren, stony land, till one reaches the park-like country along the banks of the river. The falls can also easily be reached from Scardona, to which a little steamboat runs in the morning; but there is none back in the afternoon, so those who are pressed for time generally drive. Scardona is an ancient city mentioned by Pliny as a principal market-town of Liburnia. The ruins which remain are late Roman. In the Middle Ages, Venice, Hungary, and Turkey all coveted it, and it suffered accordingly. In 1411 it became Venetian, in 1522 was sacked by the Turks, and retaken by the Venetians in 1537. The fortifications were destroyed, and the town abandoned and afterwards burnt; but the Turks held it till 1684, when they finally evacuated it. The falls are about three-quarters of an hour's walk away up the river, which was the ancient boundary between Liburnia and Dalmatia. They form its final plunge to sea level, for two tributaries join it, one on each side of Scardona, where it virtually becomes an estuary. The water precipitates itself over five terraces some 300 ft. wide, a magnified artificial cascade with a fall of 150 ft. The main fall occupies the centre of the stream, and is slightly horseshoe in shape; to the right and left are numerous smaller cascades with a little island between. Many partly artificial channels conduct the water to flour and fulling mills on both sides of the stream, of which there are some fifty, the sound of the mill-wheels and the fulling-hammers mingling with the rush of the waters. On the Sebenico side are a mill for insect-powder made from the pyrethrum, and the pumping-house for the water-supply of the city, the power for the electric lighting being also generated here. The mills are not so busy as they used to be, for the Hungarian and Russian flour is driving the home product out of the market. The spray from the falls rises high in the air, and bathes the overhanging trees and reeds, keeping the neighbouring rocks clothed with ferns.
After dinner we strolled along the quay to the south of Sebenico. There was no moon, and the stars were not as brilliant as they sometimes are in these southerly latitudes, making it rather difficult to pick one's way among the mysterious darknesses, which meant obstacles of one kind or another. As we rounded a corner a lamp or two flashed in our eyes from the other side of a little cove, and sparkled in broken lights upon the uneasy wavelets which splashed and tinkled against the sides of several coasting-vessels moored near at hand. The semi-silence of the night was broken by musical sounds, scarcely melody, but an uneven kind of chant, commencing in unison, and dying away in a prolonged melancholy, wailing chord, swelling and falling, almost like the notes produced by an Æolian harp as the wind sweeps over its strings. The glow of light which showed the door of a wine-shop across the water marked where the singers were enjoying their melancholy music, which, in its formlessness and dying cadences, was in strange harmony with the shapeless undulating dark masses, which by day were rocky islands sparsely clad with trees, now only relieved by the glimmer of the paler water, whose lapping formed an undertone to the stronger notes of the voices.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 2: Mgr. Fosco states that Giorgio submitted a plan of his proposed work, with cupola, apses, and transepts, with the little choirs--possibly a model, such as we know he prepared at the time the contract for the sacristy was signed.]
XX
TRAÙ AND THE RIVIERA DEI SETTE CASTELLI
From Sebenico, Spalato can be reached either by boat or by rail. On our first visit we chose the train, since it gave us greater choice of times for making the journey. The railway stations are generally far away from the piers; we had observed this at Pola and Parenzo, and the same thing occurs at Sebenico. The hotel porters are not allowed to carry baggage to and from the steamers or the station; we were told there was a law against it, which a man sitting by said was just enough, for the odd-job men must live! The retrospect from the railway is fine. The southern end of the inlet is in the foreground, with a training-ship upon it; the city on its hill lies to the right, crowned by Fort S. Anna, and higher still the Fort S. Giovanni; while to the left is the other portion of the inlet which stretches towards Scardona and to the entrance, dotted with islands and terminated by low hills. A bright sun illumined the whole scene, increasing the lustre of the rocks and buildings, which contrasted sharply with the colour of the sea, blue as the luminous over-arching sky it reflected.
The line climbs slowly up the slopes of Monte Dinara, towards Perkovic-Slivno, the junction for Knin through a rather stony landscape above rich and well-cultivated valleys. The hills in the middle-distance look barren, but the foreground is interesting on account of the variety of broken forms caused by projecting rocks and stones. It is starred with green humps, and there are trees in places. The humps are stunted growths of juniper, sloe, bramble, hawthorn, or a trifoliate plant, with grass growing in the shadow. The trees are hawthorns, ilex, olive, fig, almond, chestnut, mountain ash, hornbeam, or elm, and I thought I saw oak, though it is said that it does not grow in Dalmatia. Colour was added by many flowers, orchids, iris, yellow daisies, asphodel, and fields of pink pyrethrum; while the dresses of groups of peasants on their way to or from Mass gave brilliant patches of reds and blues. Vines grew in pockets of earth among the rocks from which loose stones had been collected to build rough terrace walls.
At Perkovic-Slivno, the song ol nightingales beguiled the tedium of waiting, shut within a barrier, for the train from Knin, for one is not allowed to stray about until the train arrives. After a little further climbing, the summit of the range was pierced, and the lovely Riviera of the Castelli lay spread before us far below. The long island of Bua stretched towards the strait, by which the ancient port of Salona was approached; a land-locked bay, from the other side of which above the peninsula of Monte Marjan rose the campanile of the cathedral of Spalato, swathed in the scaffolding of its long-continuing restoration; beyond was the sea, with the southern islands in the distance, and the littoral chain growing pale in aerial perspective. It formed an enchanting whole, equalling views which have a world-wide reputation, opalescent in the morning sunlight, with pale purples, blues, and greens thrown like a veil over the rich soil and the grey limestone of the mountains. The line descends rapidly, too rapidly for one's desires, and approaches the shore near the fourth of the castelli, rounds the bay in which Vranjic lies, passing beneath Salona, and, crossing the Jader, arrives at the Spalato station through cuttings which prevent one from seeing anything of the palace wall.
On other occasions we went by boat, reaching Spalato in the evening. After the Punta Planka, the ancient Promontorium Syrtis is passed, where the water is often rough, since there is no protecting screen of islands, the campanili and towers of Traù come into sight, between which and Bua there is a swing bridge across the channel. Beyond this the boat passes under the lee of Bua, on the shore of which is a solitary white monastery; whilst on the opposite shore the buildings of the Castelli throw long tremulous reflections across the water, and boats with sails painted in various colours and patterns pass to right and left, flushed with the rays of the setting sun, and leaving trails of light or dark behind them according as the water reflects the land or the sky. As the sun sinks lower, leaving the sea in shadow, the glow upon the hills becomes more and more roseate, till at last it fades, as the strait is passed and the harbour opens. The smoke from a cement factory hangs in the air like evening mists in an English valley; and, as we approach still nearer, the long line of buildings upon the quays, dominated by the great campanile and the colonnade of Diocletian's palace, gradually grows more impressive in the failing light.
[Illustration: THE PORTA MARINA AND CUSTOM HOUSE, TRAÙ
_To face page 265_]
It is distinctly asserted by Strabo that Traù, the ancient Tragurium, was founded in the fourth century B.C.. by Greek Sicilians from Lissa. At a later date it was certainly a Roman colony. After the fall of the Western empire it was subject to the emperors of Byzantium, and for forty years or so in the ninth century to the Franks, after which Hungarians, Byzantines, Genoese, and Croats struggled for it, till in 1420 it was taken by Venice. Its first privilege was granted by Coloman of Hungary in 1108, renewed and amplified by Stephen in 1124, Geysa III. in 1151, and Bela III. in 1182. Bela IV., with his family, treasures, and a brilliant following, took refuge here in 1241 from the Tartar hordes. He was received with due honours, and conceded in return the confirmation of ancient privileges, &c. The city was mainly Slav during the Middle Ages, and, on the whole, was happy and peaceful under Hungarian rule, though sacked by the Saracens in 1123, and by the Venetians in 1194, under the leadership of Vitale Michiele. Between 1322 and 1358 it belonged to the Venetians.
Under Venetian rule the walls of Dalmatian cities, towards the sea were weak, and often formed merely by houses and towers belonging to private persons. Those of Traù are no earlier than the thirteenth century, and only small portions of that date remain by the tower of the nuns of S. Nicolò. In 1289 a wall was commenced round the suburbs; and Law XX. of the first book of the Statutes obliged each count to build ten "canne" of wall in the suburb each year, as Lucio states. Notwithstanding this regulation, it was not finished till 1404, and one tower even was not completed till 1412. The suburb was called Citta Nova, and the dividing wall was subsequently demolished. In 1290 Stefano d'Ugerio of Ancona, podestà, was freed from the obligation of paving fifty paces of the street between the two main gates, which was laid on every podestà, so one may suppose that the paving was completed. In Venetian times Traù had seven gates. Of these three remain--a plain pointed arch near S. Nicolò, the Porta Marina, and the Porta a Terra. This latter is also known as Porta S. Giovanni from the figure of S. Giovanni Orsino which crowns it, and before which a lamp continually burns. The gate is Renaissance, with the S. Mark's lion in an oblong panel above the arch. From the middle of the base of this panel a little cypress grew, which remained the same size for generations. The country people believed that its growth was due to the wonder-working power of the saint, and that its colour foretold scarcity or a fruitful year. When I was there the second time, in 1906, the podestà told me it had died. The sea gate is also Renaissance; from the jambs still hang the ancient doors thickly studded with iron nails, and behind the door is a S. Mark's lion with the book closed, though they say it was open till the fall of the Republic. Above the gate is another lion with an inscription of 1642. Close by is the custom-house, which groups picturesquely with the gateway.
The castle at the end of the quay, the Castel del Camerlengho, was built in 1424. It is very well preserved. The three smaller angle towers have been altered for cannon. It is now a store-house for sand and such things, with a small garden and a few almond-trees. In the corner is a little chapel nearly covered by the sand, and I was told there was a shallow cistern in the middle. The round tower to the north-west dates from 1378, when the Dalmatian towns were allied with Genoa against Venice, and Traù was the _rendezvous_. The walls are battlemented, the octagonal angle towers have had machicolations (tolerably well preserved on one of them), and above each of the two entrances is a projecting defensive work of the same kind.
[Illustration: THE PORTA S. GIOVANNI, TRAÙ
_To face page 266_]
A few discoveries have been made of pre-mediæval things. In 1899, some half-mile towards Spalato, two terra-cotta urns were found, one of which had been mended with straps of lead. It contained seven bits of a statuette of Bacchus, which have been put together, and three bits of a larger figure. They are now in the museum at Spalato. In 1903, remains of an early church were excavated on the mainland, close to the wooden bridge which crosses the isolating arm of the sea, bringing to light a mosaic pavement, part of the apse, and one column. It was probably part of a cemetery basilica of the fifth or sixth century, just outside the ancient wall of Tragurium. Two Christian inscriptions of the fifth century have been found near, upon one of which are the words "sancta ecclesia"; and close by was discovered the torso of a prisoner of war, apparently Roman work. Close to the cistern is the reversed cover of an antique sarcophagus, and part of the front of another with a sixth-century cross. A curious custom still existing suggests a traditional memory of the site of the ancient cemetery. On Holy Thursday the Confraternity, after visiting the churches in the town, and that of the cemetery (about half a mile away), returns to the cistern, and, gathering round it, prays for the dead.
At one time there were twenty-one churches in the city. Those of S. Nicolò and S. Barbara are early. S. Nicolò (formerly S. Doimo) was founded in 1064 by Giovanni Orsini for ladies of noble descent, but little remains to show its age. There is said to be a Greek fragment of the third century B.C. in the court of the convent. Two early caps in the entrance portico appear to belong to the period of foundation.
[Illustration: PLAN AND SECTIONS, S. BARBARA, TRAÙ]
S. Barbara was originally dedicated to S. Martin, but the name was changed when the altar from the church of S. Barbara was brought here during the Turkish siege of 1537; it is mentioned in 1194. It is the most ancient church in Traù, and the lintel of the door has an inscription upon it with diamond-shaped O's, as used in the eighth century. The ornamental carving also is consistent with that period in its design, with crosses of interlaced work in the centre and at the ends, two griffins with tails entwined in a circle, one on each side of a central feature, with a rosette within a cable moulding, and rough trefoils filling up gaps. The interior has nave and aisles, with four stilted arches resting upon columns on each side, and three apses (of which the central one is larger and longer than the others) with two niches in the wall, covered by a semi-dome on squinches, the plan being square. The caps and columns appear to be antique for the most part, and just outside is a shallow cap of the same pattern as one at Kairouan. The aisles are very narrow, and are vaulted with cross-vaulting without ribs, but with strengthening arches thrown across to the wall. The nave has a barrel vault with pilaster strips running up to the springing of the strengthening arches, which are all round and unmoulded. A moulding with three projecting corbels runs round the base of the apse vault. It is said that there was once a central cupola. The east window still retains a lattice-pierced slab. The church is now a store-house for odds and ends, with a floor halfway up over the western part, but the podestà told me that they hoped to clear it out and make it into a museum.
S. Domenico retains portions of Gothic work. The building was finished in 1372. A rough relief in the tympanum shows a Virgin and Child, and on the right a local saint, Augustino Cassioti, canonised by Pope John XXII. (1313-1334), with mitre and pectoral, and on the left S. Mary Magdalene. At the feet of the saint kneels the foundress, his sister Bitcula. A Gothic inscription gives her name, and that of the sculptor, "Maiste Nicolai de te dito cervo d Venecia fecit hoc opvs." Within are a picture of the Circumcision by Palma Giovane, with a pretty Virgin, the marble sarcophagus of the family Sobota, a grandiose Renaissance production, and six panels of saints on gold ground, rather like the Gubbio school in style, arranged in threes on the wall of the choir.
The cathedral, however, is the glory of Traù. It replaces an earlier building, reported to have dated from the sixth century, but destroyed by the Saracens in 1123. At this time the Traùrines fled to Spalato, and apparently did not venture back till 1152. The builder of the main part of the cathedral was Bishop Treguanus, a Florentine who came from Hungary, and was bishop from 1206 till about 1256. The south door bears the date 1213, the great west door 1240, but the west gable has the arms of Bishop Casotti (1362-1371) upon it, and the campanile was not finished till 1598. The plan shows a nave and aisles five bays in length, terminating in three apses, while to the west is a broad and lofty porch, above one end of which the tower rises. This porch is entered by an arch at the south end, but there is another opposite the great west door; and at the further end is the fifteenth-century baptistery. Round it runs a low seat with arcaded panelling, which serves as base to all the shafts. It is vaulted in three bays, with twisted colonnettes in the angles of the piers. The vaulting is quadripartite, with ribs and two arches three feet broad repeating the divisions of the nave, all the arches being round. The central compartment rises like a dome upon the surface of the terrace above. In the aisle walls are two pierced circular windows, Romanesque in design. In one, two dragons are represented devouring a man; in the other are two lions rearing against a twisted pillar on which is a cup. The bodies are broken, and the tails, which remain, encroach upon the wall surface.
[Illustration: PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRAÙ]