Golubić near Knin: Important Locality from the Croatian Early Middle Ages

Abstract

The article analyzes an already known and a large number of newly discovered fragments of pre-Romanesque reliefs from today’s Orthodox Church of St Stephen in Golubić near Knin, some of which are here published for the first time. Based on their detailed analysis, the reliefs have been attributed to two stonecarvers’ workshops active in the 9th century: the Trogir Stonecarvers’ Workshop, active in the middle of the first half of the 9th century, and the Benedictine Stonecarvers’ Workshop from the Time of Duke Branimir. After a brief excursus on the historical toponyms in the area close to today’s Golubić, the authors suggest that the walls of the existing parish church in that village probably hide at least part of the structure of the original pre-Romanesque building, with an axial bell tower and extremely reduced westwork, whose liturgical equipment in the interior changed twice during the 9th century. This would allow for including the said sacral building among the earliest Carolingian churches in Croatia, i.e. in the so-called “missionary layer of architecture” in the territory of the early medieval Croatian principality.