Notes on the Sacred Topography of Osor

Abstract

This paper gathers information on the churches and chapels that once existed within the urban area of Osor, but of which no trace survives today. Knowledge of these buildings is extremely limited due to the low level of research into written sources and the only partially conducted archaeological excavations. In addition to collecting the few references found in the literature, this study systematically analyses the earliest churches based on the list of properties of the Diocese of Osor from 1534, apostolic and canonical visitations (Agostino Valier, 1579; Michele Priuli, 1603; and Valerio Ponte, 1645), as well as part of the written records of the Osor chancery from the first decades of the 16th century. Some of the examined churches are also recorded in the cadastral survey of Francis I from 1821. The paper discusses fourteen churches, divided into those situated outside and those within the town walls after the 1470s, when the construction of the new “Venetian” wall reduced the earlier urban area. Basic information on each church, its surviving architectural remains, and furnishings is presented, with the intention that the collected data serve as a tool for further research into the urban and sacred topography of Osor.