Pregled starokršćanske i srednjovjekovne baštine Like, Podgorja i grada Senja
Early Christian and early Medieval Heritage of Lika, Podgorje and the Town of Senj

Summary/Abstract: Based on his own research and observations taken through field work as well as using historical sources and scientific literature the author of this article elaborated all known early Christian and early medieval heritage in Lika, Podgorje and the town of Senj. This work is 80A. Glavičić: Starokršćanska i ranosrednjovjekovna baština ... Senj. zb. 30, 21-82 (2003)divided into three parts. In the first part are given dates about churches and monasteries in the town of Senj and the nearby surroundings, sacred buildings and settlements in the Podgorje (from Sveti Juraj to Starigrad Paklenica). Here were also described in great detail all early Croatian localities in Gacka Valley, Lika and Krbava where on the overlooking places were medieval fortifications and castles of the famous Croatian noble families Gušić, Kurjaković, Tolimirović, Mogorović etc. Documenting existing records, the author concluded that the centres of Croatian culture and parochial hearts were built on pre-Romanic and Romanic churches of which only a few traces remain now or were totally destroyed. These locations are only known by word of mouth (i.e. the name “Crkvina” – big church) because necessary archaeological research has not been done. In the second part of the article the author turns his scientific attention to the findings of early Croatian material evidence. Describing the findings and localities, the author gives warns that most of the early Croatian cemeteries, which were built around churches, haven’t been researched yet. In the third part of the article the author described the findings of parts of stone church furniture decorated by specific early Croatian wicker ornaments. In the town of Senj there were found three early Christian pieces. The part of a wicker ornament from the 11th century found in the Blue Villa is very important as well as the Senj Glagolitic tablet, which is actually a part of the altar partition possibly from the Church of St. George whose foundations were found during the restoration of the Nehaj tower. Further on is described a part of a wicker ornament with the motif of the number eight, which was apparently found in Karlobag and parts of a wicker ornament from the church of St. Peter in Starigrad Paklenica. In the Lika area wicker ornaments were found in Smiljan, Mogorić, Volarice and Pavlovac. The author has described and dated them to the period between the 9th and 11th centuries because of the analogy of style and artistic expression, which they have with other wicker ornaments found in ancient Croatian Dalmatia. The author found them exceptionally important because they show together with some other findings in the Lika area that Croatian art and culture were developed although not investigated yet. The work of Professor Ante Galvičić has not been published but because of its scientific and documentary importance we published this archaeological and historical ‘visitation’ to be a part of cultural heritage of the town of Senj, Podgorje and Lika, to be a motivation, as the author said, to young scientists to continue where he and his colleagues stopped.

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