Split / Spalato / Spalatrum / Spalatum / Spaleto / Splet / Spljet

Studied in R. Eitelberger von Edelberg's Mittelalterlichen Kunstdenkmaler DaImatiens (Beč , 1861: 53) [cf. infra]. In his chapter on 'interlacements' Munro (1900) writes: "When the Capella palatina in the palace of Diocletian was dedicated to Christian worship, in the fourteenth century, a baptismal font in the form of a Greek cross was erected in its interior. The panels of this font consist of decorated marble slabs taken from an old altar in a religious building of the eleventh century, "probabelmente dal Duomo" [...] "According to Dr Bulić the figure group represents the donor of the monument prostrate before Christ, who sits on a throne with a crown on the head and a cross in the right hand, while a saintly personage stands looking on [...] Other commentators, however, think that the sitting figure is intended for a Croatian king." [NB: the Dr Bulić mentioned in Munro was at the time director of the Museum of Spalato/Split]. The entry for this bulting in the Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske [https://registar.kulturnadobra.hr/#/details/Z-4577] [accessed 6 May 2024] mentions a complex composite font made of 11th-century marble altar plutei ["U unutrašnjosti je krsni zdenac sastavljen od mramornim pluteja oltarne pregrade iz 11. st., izvorno iz katedrale"]. The cross-shaped made-up font is described and illustrated in Marasović (1997), who refers to the earlier study by Eitelberger [cf. supra]: a baptismal font made up of twelve marble panels [some?] originally from the cathedral church at Split, on one of which Marasović (ibid.) identifies the regal stanting figure as Demetrius Zvonimir (aka Dmitar Zvonimir), king of Croatia and Dalmatia (r. ca. 1075/1076- 189); the author further notes that the panels date from different periods, and that the removal of the early mediaeval screen was most probably caused by the placement of the Romanesque seats in the mid-13th century, at about which time the cross-shaped font could have been made from the marble slabs. Babić (2010) notes that "The figure of the ruler has been variously identified as a Croatian king (Petar Krešimir IV, Zvonimir...), as a Byzantine emperor, as Charlemagne... The hypothesis seems particularly possible that King Zvonimir was depicted, considering his coronation in Solin in 1075, when he received his royal insignia from the pope [...] Different hypotheses exist about the provenience of the panels: they would originally have been plutei of the altar screens of the Coronation Basilica in Solin (the Church of SS. Peter and Moses, at the site of the Hollow Church), from the monastery church of St. Euphemia in Split, from the Split cathedral... A new hypothesis is presented in this article. Some of the panels from the Split baptistery may have come from the demolished monastery church of St. Peter in Jesenice (sanctus Petrus in Sello/Selle, sanctus Petrus de Gumai, de Gumag...), which was founded by the magnate Petar Črnjin called Gumaj (Petrus Zerni qui et Gumai filus). The monastery church was quite large and three-aisled; many panels could have been in its altar screen. On one of these panels, which originally would have stood in the most prominent place in the church, by the entrance in the altar screen, it is possible that Petar Črnjin, King Zvonimir, and an individual (Streza) who had lost a dispute would have been represented. In fact, Petar Črnjin had a dispute in 1078 documented in Šibenik that was to be decided by King Zvonimir; the quarrel was with Streza – the king’s uncle, who had attempted to grab some land. But it is also possible that it is King Slavac who is depicted, and the prostrated individual could perhaps have been one of the Neretva tribe who had also lost a dispute with Petar Črnjin. After the monastery was closed in the 13th century, when the monastery estates were acquired by the archdiocese of Split, a new church was built at the same place in the 14th century, but to a much smaller scale. It is possible that some of the altar screen panels were then transported to Split, to be used as the panels of the baptismal font. On that occasion, the inscription that may have mentioned a king was probably removed."