Part 24

[Illustration: MORSE IN THE TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PANEL FROM GUVINA'S DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL, SPALATO

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The campanile is Romanesque in style, and dates from the early part of the thirteenth century; it has five stories divided by strings, and was nearly 170 ft. high before the restoration, which has been going on ever since 1882. It was largely built of ancient material, and at the sides were two sphinxes, one of which (headless) has been removed into the museum, the head being built into a house in the Ulica Ghetto; it bears an inscription showing that it is of the epoch of Amenhotep III.; the other, of granite of Syene, is still among the scaffolding which surrounds the campanile. Lions crouch at each side of the stairs on the level of the top step; and on the side towards the church are interesting reliefs by Mag. Otto, probably a Benedictine. They represent SS. Doimus and Anastasius and S. Peter, and probably formed part of an altar; above is the Nativity, in two panels, of a later date. A third relief shows the Annunciation, and round the arch of the façade are roughly carved struggling figures and animals, and also the Sacrifice of Abraham. The building is generally believed to have been commenced by Queen Mary of Naples (1270-1323), but an inscription found in the cornice of the first story shows that it had reached that height in 1257. The major part is due to the Spalatine Tvrdoj, who signed a contract in 1416 to construct it, and probably took it up to the third story. The upper part is much later, and the octagonal pyramid was not completed till the eighteenth century.

The baptistery is 32 ft. long and 29 ft. broad, with pilasters at the angles. It was probably prostyle, with a pediment in front which has gone; under the cornice is a rich frieze with symbols denoting a dedication to Jupiter. The door is richly ornamented, and is nearly 20 ft. high by a little more than 8ft. broad. The building has a wagon vault of three courses, carved with cofferings and rosettes above a magnificent cornice. Resting against the wall are the fine doors of the cathedral, carved with twenty-eight subjects in panels divided by scroll-work; amongst the scrolls, animals, birds, and figures appear, and traces of colour and gilding may be discovered, the design showing by style the influence of Byzantine models. Here are also several early sarcophagi--that of Archbishop Giovanni ([Symbol: cross]680), that of Archbishop Lorenzo ([Symbol: cross]1097), and that of the two daughters of Bela IV. of Hungary, which used to be over the door of the cathedral.

The panels of the cruciform font were put together in 1527-1533 by Archbishop Andrea Cornelio, and probably came from the cathedral. The archæological society, "Bihac," took it to pieces in March, 1895. It is made of fourteen slabs, twelve external and two as walls between the shorter arms and the internal space, all of Greek marble with blue veins. Six of the external slabs have early mediæval carvings, one has Roman ornament, a Roman inscription is on the back of another, the rest are smooth back and front, and several have been sawn. They are nearly the same height and thickness, but vary in length, and were part of some chancel enclosure, altar or sarcophagus. The carvings are probably of the eleventh century, and are extremely curious. It is possible that they may be work of pupils of Mag. Otto, though the character of the patterns points rather to the Comacines, who were certainly working a little higher up the coast. In a passage in the Porta Aurea, above the gate, is a little chapel made in the eighth or ninth century, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, S. Martin, and S. Gregory the Pope. It is said to have belonged to the tertiaries of S. Dominic till a century or so back, and was then used as a store. Mgr. Bulic restored it in 1899. On the lintel of the door of entry is an inscription mentioning a presbyter Dominicus. There is a "Dominicanus presbyter, capellanus" as witness in a deed of gift of the ban Trpimir in 852, and the screen of a chapel of Trpimir at Rizinice, near Salona, is like that of this little chapel in style. This is the oldest place of worship in Dalmatia, except the cathedral. It occupies the space between the two niches above the archway, and the pierced window-slabs of the ninth century still remain in the little windows. The screen has two octagonal colonnettes with a cable necking, and rough caps with volutes, but no foliations support an arch beneath a steep gable; a Latin cross with griffins crouching on each side fills the space between. Round the arch and along the frieze runs an inscription. All along are the simple crockets called by the Italians "caulicoli." The slabs at the bottom are surrounded by a running pattern bordered by zigzags. A number of remains of this period have been found in Dalmatia, of which a few may here be noted. The most ancient inscription of the national dynasty is on the fragments of the screen already referred to at Rizinice, between Clissa and Salona, where the ban Trpimir founded a convent of Benedictines in 860, and where the foundations of church and castle were excavated in 1895-1899.

[Illustration: STALL-BACKS IN CHOIR, CATHEDRAL, SPALATO

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The church of S. Maria de Salona, or de Otok, lies on an island in the Jader joined by a bridge to the Clissa road. It was founded by Queen Helena, whose sarcophagus was discovered among the foundations in 1898, and bears the date 976 and the name of Helena, wife of King Mihael and mother of King Stefanus. The church was a small basilica with nave and aisles, and an apse in the thickness of the eastern wall, with three piers and corresponding pilasters in the side walls. It was about 36 ft. long, with a width of ii ft. 6 in. the nave, and 7 ft. 4 in. the aisles. There was one west door, a narthex of two bays, and an atrium. Amongst fragments of ninth and tenth-century carving a pattern closely resembling Syrian ornament was found. At Knin, when the railway was being made, stones with ninth-century patterns were also found. This city was a royal residence and seat of the courts of justice, and in the middle of the eleventh century the bishop of Knin was made primate of Croatia and a councillor of the king. All these carvings were probably executed by Comacines, documentary evidence of whose presence in the country, brought from Cividale by the Croatian ban, has been found by Mgr. Bulic. Two sculptors only are known by inscriptions earlier than the Benedictines, who took a leading part in the development of mediæval Dalmatian sculpture in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These are Mag. Andrea, builder of the little church of S. Lucia, near Besca, in Veglia, which is earlier than the twelfth century, and Mag. Otto of the eleventh century. After them the names of Guvina and Raduanus occur, at Spalato and Traù. There are, however, indications that Mag. Otto may have himself been a Benedictine; the Order appears to have been established in Dalmatia before the tenth century, and to them S. Crisogono, Zara, was due. If so, according to the rule of his Order, he would have inherited the manual of art which every Benedictine leaving the mother monastery to found a new one carried with him, together with the liturgical books.

After the death of Diocletian in 313 Salona inherited the palace. The imperial apartments were reserved for illustrious guests, and the rest appears to have been used as a cloth-factory. It is thought that it was here that the dethroned Emperor Nepos was slain in Odoacer's time. Towards the end of the fifth century Marcellinus, first king of Dalmatia, lived here for a short time after his proclamation, when the province had been taken from the Emperor Leo. The destruction of Salona in 639 drove the inhabitants to take refuge in the islands where the Avars could not follow them. When the Croats drove these away Severus recalled some of them, and they inhabited the palace. The bishopric was founded in 649 by John of Ravenna, legate of Pope Martin I. He it was who converted the mausoleum into a cathedral, opening the door on the south side which has the curious ornament round it, and dedicating it to the Assumption, and also bringing the relics of S. Anastasitis and S. Doimus from Salona, and placing them beneath the side altars. The beginning of the Venetian dominion was brought about by the appeal for help against Cresimir which the Spalatines made to Venice by advice of Basil and Constantine, emperors of Byzantium. Pietro Orseolo received the homage of the citizens in the cathedral, defeated Cresimir, and made peace at Traù on the understanding that Zara and Spalato were to be Venetian thenceforth; but the Croat kings assumed the title of King of Dalmatia and obtained the assent of the Pope to their holding the dignity till the Hungarian dynasty succeeded them. In 1401 all Dalmatia, except the Bocche and Ragusa, became Neapolitan; and Ladislas was crowned by a papal emissary king of Hungary and Dalmatia at Zara. His viceroy built a palace at Spalato, of which remains exist between the Marina and the Piazza dell' Erbe; to which the Venetians added the octagonal tower for the defence of the port, so conspicuous from the sea. Turkish raids were frequent. In 1570 the garrison of Clissa nearly took the city; but twenty-six years later the Spalatines retaliated by surprising and massacring the garrison of Clissa in a night attack, led by the archdeacon, who, with three canons, was left on the field. Their leader dead, they were not able to retain possession of the fortress. Under Venice, Spalato was the principal place for trade with Persia and the Indies, and many noble Venetian families established themselves there.

[Illustration: ITALIAN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE BOATS, SPALATO

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The costume of the country people shows the influence of Turkish and Oriental relations, and suggests the possibility of many figures in Old Italian pictures being painted from Dalmatian models. The men are generally blonde, and wear great moustaches. They are fond of bright colours, and wear light-blue tight cloth hose, red-and-green stockings, the usual shoes, a broad red-leather girdle, which used to have weapons in it, a red waistcoat, a short brown jacket embroidered with red and ornamented at the corners with red and white stripes, and on the head a turban of a red-brown colour. These costumes may be seen in numbers in the morning in the market, on the way to the station. The women have a shawl or folded piece of stuff on their heads, and frequently wear printed calicoes of a startling pattern in the town, but outside have a modification of the usual Morlacca costume.

Along the quays many Italian boats are moored, bringing cargoes of fruit, onions, and other kindred produce, which they appear to sell retail as well as wholesale; and many picturesque subjects may be noted, to which the masts and rigging, awnings and sails, weather-beaten paint, baskets of gleaming fruit and other articles, cordage, gangway planks, &c., in careless arrangement, lend attractiveness and beauty, whether in the full glare of the midday sun, with its strong contrasts of light and shade, or in the early morning or late evening, when its level rays tend to greater simplicity of effect and greater glow of colour. On Sunday evening the long parapet of the Marina is lined with townsfolk taking the air, while those who desire to show off their toilettes march up and down the Piazza dei Signori (which appears to answer to the "Park") for an hour or so, after which it resumes its usual quiet condition. On the morning of May 1, the _municipio_ was decorated with flags, and saluted by a band which played in front of it for a short time and then marched off, still playing.

At the end of the Marina is the Franciscan convent dedicated to S. Felice, bishop of Epetium, whose relics are said to be preserved in the church. It was built by Archbishop Giovanni IV. of Spalato in 1059, but has been modernised, and little of an early date can be seen. In the wall towards the cloister are several walled-up windows, with semicircular heads cut out of a lintel, and in the cloister itself are a few caps which appear to be eleventh-century, but the bulk of it is fourteenth-century in style, and that is the date of the three inscriptions inserted in the walls. It is a pleasant little cloister, with a school attached to it, and the church is crowded with the poor at service time.

[Illustration: CLOISTER OF S. FRANCESCO, SPALATO

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The situation of the city is very fine, and the harbour accommodation there and in the immediate neighbourhood led the Austrian admiralty at one time to think of it as the principal military port. Preference was given to Pola on account of its connection with the main railway lines, for which the archæologist and artist may be thankful. The two ranges of Kozjak and Mosor (Mons Aureus) dip down to the pass which is guarded by the rock of Clissa. On the slopes of one lie the ruins of Salona; on the other, those of Epetium; in front is the sea, always peaceful, being sheltered by the islands of Solta and Brazza; and beyond Marjan the land-locked Salonitan port.

The museum accommodation is very insufficient, and, though several of the larger monuments are in the open air (like the second-century monument of Pomponia Vera near the Porta Argentea), the four museums are crowded with the objects which excavations have brought to light. There are an enormous number of inscriptions, a few sculptures comparatively, a great many architectural fragments, and an infinity of small objects. Among the sculptures two or three, sarcophagi may be specially noted. One with the subject of Hippolytus and Phædra, found in the narthex of the little basilica at Salona in 1859, in a fifth-century stratum, is a late copy of one in the Louvre. Near it was a colossal sarcophagus of the first half of the fourth century, with the Good Shepherd upon it, which is also in the museum. At one end is a door watched by figures at each side; at the other a genius leaning on a reversed torch stands on a pedestal beneath the arch of a little gabled building with twisted columns. The columns in front are also twisted; those at the back channelled with three flutes. The one with the Hunting of the Caledonian Boar, which stood outside the baptistery, where its inscription was copied by Cyriacus of Ancona in 1436, is of the period of the Antonines, and has been used twice. One of the ends is really fine. A fourth, with the Passage of the Red Sea on the front, and three panels on the back, was brought from the Franciscan cloister. One end has two standing figures with a Latin cross in high relief between them, and a garland with waving ribands surrounding the _labarum_ above; the other an imbrication with the spaces in relief. The back has an Orante or Virgin in the centre, and male figures at the ends, with S-shaped striations between.

There is also a very beautiful torso of Venus accompanied by Cupid, and in one of the more distant museums two fine fragments of a relief of undoubtedly Greek work. There are many striking fragments of architectural carving, among which one of the most interesting is a balustrade bearing close resemblance to the carving upon an ambo at S. Agata, Ravenna, but constructed of many pieces, whereas that is an adaptation of a portion of a fluted column. There are also a good many pieces of ninth and tenth-century work, and a large collection of Christian lamps. The most ancient object in the collection is a Corinthian vase with cover of the sixth century B.C., found at Salona, and ornamented with animals and rosettes in black and violet on a yellow ground. A new museum is to be built near the agricultural college on the way to the monastery of the Paludi, which lies on the shore on the Salona side of Marjan, with cypresses in its grassy forecourt, and a garden beyond the cloister.

This convent is Franciscan, but was founded by Benedictines in the eleventh century, the Franciscans taking their place in the fifteenth century. Near the entrance is the inscribed lid of a sarcophagus upside down, used as a water-trough. The convent was fortified by the Spalatines in 1540, of which fortification the machicolated tower to the left of the church remains. The church is early Renaissance in appearance, and is dedicated to S. Maria delle Grazie. It was a favourite place of burial for distinguished Spalatine families, and the floor was covered with fine gravestones in relief, mainly of the sixteenth century, worked in a hard white Dalmatian limestone. These have now been taken up (in 1900) and arranged along the wall of the cloister. Many of them are beautiful in design, with borders of early Renaissance ornament. Perhaps the most charming is that of Caterina Cvitic, but the historic interest of that of Tommaso de Nigris of Scardona and Traù who died in 1527 in Spalato, is greater. There is a half-length portrait of him in the library by Lorenzo Lotto. Behind the high-altar in the monks' choir is an important picture by Girolamo da Santa Croce (1549). It consists of ten panels. In the upper row the centre is occupied by a Madonna and Child surrounded by child angels, flanked by SS. Helena and Scolastica, beyond whom are SS. Catherine and Mary Magdalene. In the centre of the lower row is S. Francis in ecstasy, with SS. Antonio and Bernardino, flanked by S. Doimo (with the city of Spalato) and S. Louis of Toulouse, beyond whom are SS. John the Baptist and Jerome. In the gable of a much restored frame is a dove. On the right side is a curious lintelled door with dull arabesques emphasised by lines of drilling and pictures on either side. One is a Carpaccio in tempera on canvas, a "Madonna auxilium Christianorum," with the Child in a vesica on her breast, and S. Sebastian and a bishop (S. Doimus), one on each side. She holds her cloak out to shelter a crowd of kneeling men on one side, and women on the other, from the darts which God the Father is showering from above. In the sky are cherub heads; two child angels hold a crown above the Virgin's head; in the background are Venetian towers and hills. The frame is architectural, with painted arabesques. Close by is an inlaid black marble slab, with music, the words of a psalm, and flowers in colour. On the other side of the door is a Virgin and Child, with SS. John, Peter, and Scolastica in front, and two little angels on the steps of the throne, a tempera picture on panel, rather grey in colour. A ghastly painted crucifix, with a great deal of blood, stands near the door. On one of the wells in the cloister is the date 1453; they are decorated with roundels bearing various devices. The remarkable thing which brings tourists to the Paludi is, however, the antiphonary of Padre Bonaventura Radmilovic, painted with vegetable colours, and finished after ten years' labour in 1675.

Not far away, among the vineyards, is the ninth-century church of SS. Trinita, of which the earliest known mention is in the eleventh century. It consists of six niches surrounding a circle of the same diameter as the similar buildings already described at Zara. At the springing of the arches a cornice runs right round the building. The niches terminate in semi-domes, and two of them are pierced with doors, one of which is of a later date than the rest of the building. The exterior of each niche has a rough arcading of three arches. The springing of the dome and ornamented rosettes in the semi-domes still remain. The courses are horizontal, and the niches terminate outside in a slightly sloped roof. The door has been made into a window, and the lintel bears a bit of antique egg-and-tongue moulding. Three Latin inscriptions of the ninth century have been found, and various pieces of ornament, which are in the museum, also quantities of bones, testifying to its long use as a cemetery chapel. On the way back to Spalato the Casa Katic may be noted, in the walls of which many antique fragments are encrusted.

There was another early church, that of S. Eufemia, within the military hospital, which was destroyed in 1877. It had a central elliptical dome without windows resting on four pillars; two more on each side made the nave four bays long. The apse and aisle ends were square, and the nave was vaulted with a wagon vault.

The great excursion from Spalato is to Salona, a city large enough to quarter the entire army of the Consul L. Cecilius Metellus in 119 B.C., and then known as Colonia Martia Julia. The walls extend for a long distance upon the roads to Traù and to Clissa after crossing the Jader, and the city also stretched some distance up the mountain slopes, the débris from which have done so much to hide its remains. Several burial-places have been discovered, of greater or less extent, an amphitheatre, basilicas, a baptistery with the buildings appertaining, city gates, and more than one circuit of walls. Salona may be reached by rail or road; in the latter case the aqueduct may be observed, originally constructed by Diocletian for his palace, and restored in 1879 by Dr. Bajamonti for the use of the Spalatines. It is six miles long, and taps the source of the Jader. The road descends by long curves to the valley, and enters the village, where the Clissa road diverges, under the pleasant shade of trees, beyond which is a marshy field, white in spring with the giant snowdrop. Half-way down the hill is a fountain which muleteers and pedestrians find most refreshing, especially if they are pressed for time as we were on one occasion when we had an appointment in Spalato, and, missing the train, had to return on foot in the middle of the day. The railway customs are rather curious. On one visit I asked for return tickets, and, as they were not taken on leaving the station at Salona, supposed I had them. In the train the guard told us as we were returning that they were not available, and that we must therefore pay a fine of a florin! I, of course, protested, detailed the circumstances, and pleaded the ignorance of a foreigner; and on arrival at Spalato the matter was referred to a higher official, who was graciously pleased to refund the fine, and accept the fare for a single journey. The traveller in Austria must not calculate on paying his fare on the train, as he would do on the Italian light railways.