Around and about in the hinterland of Dalmatia PART 3

Welcome to part three of my road trip to the Dalmatian hinterland, in this part we will go back in time for a few centuries and you will see one of the oldest christian monuments in Croatia.

If you want to see where I have been so far, check out my previous post of the series the first part and the second part, if you want to know a little about me from my first post.

And if you have any question or if you want to know something about a specific topic, maybe for future writing, please le let me know in the comments.

Just a few hundred meters from the spring of the Centina river in the small village of Cetina stands one of the oldest christian monuments in Dalmatia. The Church of sv. Spas (church of the Holy Salvation) is one of a few early medieval churches and one of the best-preserved with the bell tower still standing in front of the church. Buildings from this time period are rare and ordinarily are benith the ground, and in most cases, they need to be excavated by archaeologists. This is an important historical and national monument for Croatia and its people. It tells us about the earliest history and it is a witness to the christianization of the first Slavic tribes who arrived here at the end of the 7th beginning of the 8th century. These christianized tribes are most important as they formed the old or early Croatian state during the 9th century and further elevating its leaders to the first Croatian kings.

The church was build throughout the last quarter of the 9th century, during the rule of Knez Branimir the Ruler of Primorska Hrvatska. So a lot of unknown words a Knez and Primorska Hrvatska. Let's explain what a Knez is first, it is a Slavic royal or noble title for the ruler or leader depending again on the time period we are talking about. The Latin equivalent would be comes or princeps, in English it would translate to prince, duke or count and there are even some similarities with Proto-German with the word kuningaz or könig, king. Ok, hope that this is now clearer let's proceed. Primorska Hrvatska is the earliest Croatian state also known as the Duchy of Croatia and various other names. It was founded during the early medieval ages at the beginning of the 9th century and was founded, roughly in the borders of the Roman province of Dalmatia from the late antiquity. And there is more, the church was commissioned by Župan Gostiha in honor of his mother and sons.

Ok Župan you ask, alright then. A Župan was the head of the Župa which was a church and administrative district or roughly translated a county. The title Župan is a noble and administrative one, given by the Knez or King. The term Župa and Župan are in use from the earliest beginnings of the Croatian state and the important fact here is, that it is still used today in the administrative organization of the country. Today Croatia has Županije and there are twenty and the city of Zagreb, the borders of the modern Županija is roughly similar to the medieval ones.

OK, I will continue now and get back to the church. During archaeological excavations in the 19th and 20th century, around the church archaeologists found over 1100 graves dating back to the 8th and 9th century. The first results of archaeological research of the graves around the church were made by a priest Lujo Marun also known here as the father of Croatia's National archaeology. The graves were rich with huge amounts of artifacts from the time period like jewelry, weapons, and riding gear.

The first mention of the church the village of Cetina and the Croatian state dates back to the 10th century. From the written text * De administrando emperio* or a text on how to rule the empire. It was written by Constantin VII Porphyrogenitus (or the purple one) the emperor of the Byzantine Empire or the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine empire had a lot of influence in the 9th century on the Croatian coast as they intend to restore the glory of the Roman empire back to former lands. They also backed and influenced the early leader of the Slavic tribes to spread Christianity among them. The church has a lot of Byzantine influence like the longitudinal outlay, a sanctuary with three apses (these were torn down later and replaced with one large rectangular one) and massive semi-circular buttresses on the outer walls which give a sense of fortification. The only structure that does not fit the Byzantine style would be the massive belltower in front of the church. This by some art historians this is common in the Frankish Kingdom which was the other large European empire fighting for the upper hand in the small Croatian duchy. This influence was also confirmed by archaeological evidence.

Ok, this is my last post in the series of the Dalmatian hinterland. I hope you enjoyed the small history lesson and that you are now a little bit more interested in the not so well know parts of Dalmatia.

If you like to know more about Croatia please check out my other posts about Croatia's money and the 20 kuna bill will tell you more about Slavonia and an important historical figure.

All photos were taken with my ONEPLUS X.