Commissioners and Architectural Activity in Trogir during the 15th Century

Abstract

Trogir is a city with a continuity of living in a confined area surrounded by the sea for more than two thousand years.
Out of its innumerable layers, this paper focuses on the architectural and urban changes that occurred during the 15th century. To this purpose, the author discusses the commissioners of architecture and their needs, as well as the ways in which these needs could be met in the already clearly defined and fully developed fabric of the city. Among the commissioners, one finds all the citizens and residents who contributed to appearance of Trogir at the time, and much of the architecture has been preserved to this day: fortifications and public buildings, the cathedral with its annexes, churches, and numerous private houses and residences that were expanded and equipped with new architectural decoration during the 15th century. It is the preservation of these buildings and their segments that has enabled the research whose results are presented in this paper, viewed through the commissioners’ perspective.