The Development of Settlements on the Northern Adriatic Islands - the Example of Dobrinj

Abstract

The paper discusses the urbanistic development of Dobrinj, one of the medieval castle settlements on the island of Krk, which developed in the shadow of the town of Krk - an ancient urban and Episcopal centre with unbroken continuity of occupancy since  Roman times and proto-history. Although situated away from the sea, from Dobrinj it was possible to survey the Vinodol Channel in the direction of Kotor, its counterpart on the mainland of the neighbouring Vinodol, founded above the mouth of the river  Dubračina. From Dobrinj it was also possible to control indirectly the salt-works of the Dukes of Krk in the nearby Saline Bay.  Dobrinj’s location on an isolated mountain ridge caused the characteristically linear development of its oldest part, the downtown area of Dolinji Grad. In spite of subsequent significant remodelling which updated the originally modest buildings, even today it is possible to recognize the characteristic rows of  rectangular residential single-floor structures with a single-room layout. The houses’ façades faced each other and the ground floors were separated by narrow passageways. However, on the first floor level they were joined by barrel-vaulted structures which supported roof terraces. The rows of houses along the outskirts of  Dolinji Grad adopted a fortification function through their predominantly block-like exteriors. Representative residential structures were concentrated around the Plokat square, below the parish church of St Stephen. Numerous pieces of information are provided by comparative analyses: in particular comparison with other settlements on the island of Krk, but also in combination with written sources and toponomastic research. From the confined area of Dolinji Grad, the settlement spread from the parish church towards the south. Here, around the field which stood in front of the settlement, the inhabitants built churches from the middle ages onward and a graveyard gradually developed. During the sixteenth century, this area was  gradually transformed into Placa, the new communal centre, following the example of the main square at Krk, which was developed by the Venetians. Although few material remains survive in situ, it can be observed that in this area Renaissance houses were provided with the characteristic door-cum-window openings (called "na koljeno") indicative of shops on the ground-floor level. Written sources reveal that in the sixteenth century  religious building focused on Placa. The beginning of the seventeenth century saw a further contraction in the area of Dolinji Grad, and the completion of the work on the parish church which had begun in the second half of the sixteenth century. From the second half of the seventeenth century, following the end of the dangers posed to Dobrinj by the Uskok War, the settlement spread out in a horse-shoe shape southward into the area of the upper town - Gorinji Grad. The  process continued in the eighteenth century and thus  the example of small and urbanistically underdeveloped Dobrinj demonstrates that this late period of Venetian rule does not necessarily stand for urbanistic stagnation.