SPLIT CITY GUIDE: Church of Saint Dominic
Hello! Today I shall write about Split city, Croatia. If you're a regular reader, you know I'll be writing about my home city.
While we were walking around the old city centre this morning, I asked my husband to take a few photographs of me in front of this historical church. The reason for it being simply that I recalled that I have a post about this church in my blogger drafts. So, why not finish up this draft and publish it? I'll probably come back to this post in the future to add links and edit it. I'm typing this on my cellphone as I haven't brought my laptop with me.
SPLIT CITY CENTRE AND A MIDI DRESS
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| This church is located quite near the iconic cathedral! |
SPLIT CITY'S CATHEDRAL IS A MUST VISIT BUT SAINT BENEDICT CHRUCH IS ALSO LOVELY
Most people visiting Split, focus on this iconic cathedral and for many a good reason. It's the oldest cathedral to be continuously used. It was originally a mausoleum of Roman emperor Diocletian, but early Christians had other ideas. That is how Split city ended up with the oldest Christian cathedral in the world. The patron saint Domnius was one of the martyrs supposedly killed by Diocletian. Strictly speaking, the church is devoted to the Virgin Mary and the tower to saint Domnius, but people tend to call it 'saint Domnius'. The cathedral's tower was build much later, but that is still worthy of a visit and a climb, that offers a magnificent panoramic view of the city.
Saint Dominic church is neither as old nor as magnificent, but it is worthy of a visit as well. Most people just pass it by, as it is not somewhat understated. It's located right opposite what in the ancient world was known as the 'silver doors'- one of the key four entrance to the palace.
The church of saint Dominic and its accompanying monastery are located in the city centre. The Dominican church and monastery were originally build in the immediate vicinity of walls of Diocletian's palace and this is where you can still find them, facing the 'silver gates'. What are these silver gates you might ask?
As I said, what we now call old Split city or Split centre is basically a palace of emperor Diocletian who retired here when he willing abdicated his throne (the only Roman empire who has ever done that).
In those ancient times, there were four large doors on every side of the palace, made of gold, silver, copper and iron. Today you can see the actual doors but you can see the impressive stone structure and imagine how monumental those doors must have looked in the ancient times.
This church was first mentioned in the 13th century. Its present structure dates back to 17th century and in 19th century it was renovated .
"The new grand high altar of Carrara marble was made in 1898 in the workshop of carver Pavle Bilinić (1860-1954), as shown by written documentation preserved in the monastic archives. The drawings for most of the altars from this workshop were made by Bilinić’s father-in-law, the engineer Emil Vecchietti (1830-1901), who after his studies in Padua and Venice became a drawing teacher in Split. He produced plans for churches in Vela Luka, Solin, Kaštel Kambelovac, the Orthodox churches in Dubrovnik and Skradin, the Katalinić House in Split, the altar of the Split Dominicans, and altars in churches in Solin and Imotski. He was a teacher of the young Emanuel Vidović and Ivan Meštrović. He was helped in the production of designs for altars and monumental masonry by his daughter Regina, married to Bilinić. In the making of the altars, particularly the sculptural parts, the greatest part was played by the Italian sculptor Arturo Ferraroni from Milan, who taught Meštrović and Rosandić and took part in the renovation of the ruined campanile of the Church of St Mark in Venice. Bilinić’s workshop took part in numbers of operations such as the reconstruction of the Old City Council Chamber in Split, the First Popular Dalmatian Bank, the extension of the Prokurativa, the Perović Building on the waterfront, and the convent and church of the Poor Clares. A number of very high quality altars are in existence, like that of Our Lady of Lourdes in the Jesuits, in Kaštel Lukšić and Kaštel Kambelovac, in churches in Imotski, Solin and Sumartin. The high altar in the Dominican church with its mensa and baldachin is counted among the most monumental altars in Dalmatia. The central statue of Our Lady of the Rosary was transferred from an earlier high altar, while at the sides are the Ferraroni statues of St Dominic and St Catherine of Siena. " 1
MORE POSTS ABOUT SPLIT CITY
I often share my paintings inspired by Split city. That was not the first time I painted my home city. It has appeared in Travel With My Art series a couple of times.
SEE HOW I ILLUSTRATED AND PAINTED SPLIT BEFORE
MATEJUŠKA, SPLIT CITY (CROATIA)
A SEAVIEW FROM A PARK (SPLIT, CROATIA)
Besides in this regular feature, Split city has appeared in my other art posts as well. Have a look and follow the links below to see how Split inspired my art.
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| https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2021/03/photodiary-en-plein-air-sketching.html |
Thanks for your sharing with us :)
ReplyDeleteI like your outfit, the jacket is a classic and the bag is cute :) It's good you were able to share more of this lovely old church with us too, you have so much history around! :)
ReplyDeleteEs una bella iglesia . es muy guapa. Te mando un beso. https://enamoradadelasletras.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your visit to this beautiful church with us Ivana! xxx
ReplyDelete😀
DeleteNice photos, that place looks interesting.Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI invite you to visit my last post. Have a good week!
❤
DeleteThis is one impressive looking church!
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