Arhitektonski elementi episkopske bazilike v Konjuhu, R. Makedonija

Ivanovikj, Radomir (author), Djurić, Bojan (mentor)

Osrednja tema magistrskega dela je arheološko gradivo, odkrito na arheološkem najdišču Golemo Gradište, v. Konjuh, R. Makedonija, natančneje arhitekturni členi episkopalne bazilike, ki leži na severni terasi najdišča. Golemo Gradište se nahaja 41 km vzhodno od Skopja, R. Makedonija. Leži pribl. 6 km južno od avtoceste Kumanovo - Kriva Palanka, ob reki Krivi v rudarski regiji. Prvi, ki je našel to najdišče, je bil starec iz vasi Šopsko Rudare, ki je imel videnje, da je na hribu Golemo Gradište cerkev. V svoji viziji je videl cerkev, posvečeno sv. Janezu, in to je bil razlog, ki je prepričal redovnice iz tamkajšnjega samostana, da so mu pomagale pri izkopavanju te cerkve. Dogodek se je zgodil leta 1919, ko so našli zelo nenavadno cerkev imenovano Rotunda. Po letu 1919 se skoraj 18 let nihče ni več ukvarjal s tem spomenikom. Šele leta 1937 je najdišče obiskal srbski arheolog Nikola Vulić (Vulić, 1948). Po Vulićevem obisku Konjuha je leta 1938 Svetozar Radojčić izdelal širši pregled območja in prvi zaznal veliko episkopalno baziliko na severni terasi najdišča (Radojčić, 1952). Takrat so bili vidni le obrisi bazilike, na njihovem vrhu pa so bili vidni ostanki marmorne oltarne ograje. Po Radijčićevem obisku se je za to najdišče zanimalo veliko raziskovalcev: v začetku sedemdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja je Ivan Mikulčić najdišče pregledal in opisal njegove številne arheološke značilnosti (Mikulčić, 1973), dve desetletji pozneje pa prav tako Viktor Lilčić (Lilčić, 1994). Borka Dragojević-Josifovska je zbrala napise iz okolice najdišča in jih objavila leta 1982 (Dragojević-Josifovska 1982). Leta 1988 je Živojin Vinčić z Nacionalnega konservatorskega inštituta vodil projekt, osredotočen na morebitno konservacijo Rotonde (Vinčić, 1988). Ob gradnji železniške proge Skopje – Sofija so se leta 1995 začela nujna reševalna izkopavanja pod vodstvom Milana Ivanovskega iz Nacionalnega konservatorskega inštituta; na pokopališkem območju K’šla, onstran reke nasproti najdišča Golemo Gradište, so odkrili številne prazgodovinske in zgodnjerimske pokope ter manjšo zgodnjebizantinsko cerkev, povezano z velikim obokanim grobom (Ivanovski, 1996). Leta 1998 so v okviru makedonsko-ameriškega raziskovalnega projekta, ki sta ga vodila Kiril Trajkovski iz Muzeja Makedonije in Carolyn S. Snively iz Gettysburg Collegea, raziskali najdišče in njegovo neposredno okolico. Njuni cilji so bili najti, identificirati in opisati značilnosti najdišča, ki so vidne na površini, ter jih zabeležiti na topografskem načrtu; pregledati rotundo pri iskanju odgovorov na specifična arhitekturna in liturgična vprašanja; ter zbrati in analizirati keramično gradivo s površine in iz testnih jarkov (Snively, 2002). Od leta 2000 do 2004 je bil glavni poudarek na izkopavanju akropole, od leta 2005 do danes, tokrat pod vodstvom Gorana Saneva iz Arheološkega muzeja Makedonije in Carolyn S. Snively iz Gettysburg Collegea, pa je bil poudarek na raziskavah severne teras. Pri teh raziskavah so se leta 2005 prvič jasno pojavile ostaline velike škofovske bazilike, ki so predmet tega dela. Glede na to, da gre za izjemno bogato najdišče, in da gre za številna arheološka vprašanja, ki se jih preučuje že skoraj celo stoletje, je bilo v zvezi njim objavljenih že mnogo razprav. V njih so bili obravnavani različni vidiki življenja v tem mestu, npr. umetniška vrednost najdb, njihov nastanek, razvoj urbanistične zasnove mesta, pokopališča in še marsikaj. Toda kljub velikemu zanimanju raziskovalcev vprašanju arhitekturnih členov episkopalne bazilike doslej še nihče ni posvetil posebne p ozornosti. Pomojem mnenju je glavni razlog za to dejstvo, dasose raziskovalci osredotočili na pomembnejša vprašanja življenja in razvoja poznorimskega mesta. Glavni cilj mojega dela je natančna preučitev tega detajla v celoti arheološkega gradiva. Gradivo je predstavljeno kot posebna celota in nadgrajeno z novimi informacijami, pridobljenimi z najnovejšimi arheološkimi izkopavanji, s čimer poskušam odgovoriti na več odprtih vprašanj. Predstavitev arheološkega gradiva z najdišča daje priložnost za ustrezno obdelavo dela ogromnega arheološkega fundusa, odkritega kot rezultat sistematičnih arheoloških raziskav, pri katerih sem aktiven udeleženec od leta 2011 do danes. Predstavitev arhitekturnega gradiva bo moj skromen prispevek k poznoantični arheologiji Makedonije. Magistrsko delo je nekakšen monografski prikaz arheološkega najdišča Golemo Gradište v posebnem obdobju človeške zgodovine, v katerem so se zgodile velike spremembe, s posebnim poudarkom na gradbenih elementih episkopalne bazilike, arhitekturnih členih te stavbe in izvoru materiala, uporabljenega pri gradnji. Pri tem mislim predvsem na obdobje Justinijanove gradnje. Pristop k raziskovanju te naloge je multidisciplinaren, zato so upoštevane vse razpoložljive informacije o regiji. Glavni poudarek je na materialu iz bazilike, torej na njenih strukturnih elementih. Noben del tega gradiva ni bil še nikoli objavljen. Obdelava gradiva, njegova sistematizacija in tipološka določitev je potekala na podlagi primerjave s trenutnimi spoznanji arheološke znanosti. Predmeti so kataloško obdelani, predstavljeni s fotografijami in risbami ter razvrščeni glede na material, iz katerega so bili izdelani, glede na funkcijo, ki so jo imeli, nato pa kronološko določeni in tipološko razvrščeni. Iz nekaterih artefaktov, zlasti iz teles stebrov, so bili odvzeti vzorci za laboratorijsko analizo, da bi ugotovili, ali so bili narejeni iz lokalnih virov materiala, ali je bil material uvožen oz. so bili predmeti prineseni kot spolije. Po opravljenih meritvah in rekonstrukciji močno fragmentiranih stebrov je bila izračunana višina stebrišča bazilike oz. njenih kolonad, kar je omogočilo izdelavo jasne slike videza stavbe. Glede na to, da je bilo veliko število strukturnih elementov na najdišču premaknjenih (delno s strani zadnjih prebivalcev naselja, deloma pa med arheološkimi izkopavanji), je bilo treba pregledati vsa poročila iz preteklih izkopavanj in rekonstruirati njihovo originalno pozicijo pri odkritju.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Golemo Gradište, Škofijska bazilika, Arhitekturni člani, Telesa stebrov, Kapitali, Baze stebrov, rekonstrukcija, Kamnine, kamnolomi, Orodja
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2022
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136579
• Publication date in RUL: 12.05.2022

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: Architectural members of the Episcopal Basilica at Konjuh, R. Macedonia

Abstract

The main subject of this thesis is the archaeological material discovered within the archaeological site Golemo Gradište, v. Konjuh, R. Macedonia, to be more precise the architectural members of the Episcopal Basilica which lies on the northern terrace of the site. Golemo Gradište is located 41 km east of Skopje, R. Macedonia. It lies ca. 6 km south of the Kumanovo - Kriva Palanka highway, on the Kriva River in a mining region. The first person who found this site was an old man from the village of Šopsko Rudare who had a vision that there is a church on the Golemo Gradište hill. In his vision, he saw a church dedicated to St. John, and this was the motive that convinced the nuns from the local monastery to help him excavate this church. The aforementioned event occurred in 1919 when they found a very unusual church Rotunda. From 1919 for nearly 18 years nobody paid any attention to this monument until 1937 when N. Vulić visited the site (Vulić, 1948). After Vulić’s visit to Konjuh in 1938 S. Radojčić was the next researcher that made an extended survey of the area and he was the first who noticed the big Episcopal Basilica on the northern terrace (Radojčić, 1952). At that time only contours of the basilica were visible, and on top of those contours, there were visible remains of the marble altar rail. After this event a large number of researchers showed interest in this site: in the early 1970s, Ivan Mikulčić surveyed the site and described a number of its archaeological features (Mikulčić, 1973), as did Viktor Lilcic two decades later (Lilčić, 1994). Borka Dragojevic - Josifovska collected the inscriptions from the vicinity and published them together in 1982 (Dragojević – Josifovska 1982). In 1988 Živojin Vinčić of the National Institute for conservation directed a project focused on the eventual conservation of the Rotunda (Vinčić, 1988). The Skopje – Sofia railroad line construction initiated emergency salvage excavations in 1995 directed by Milan Ivanovski from the National Institute for conservation; in the cemetery area of K’šla, across the river from Golemo Gradište, a number of prehistoric and early Roman burials were discovered as well as a small early Byzantine church associated with a large vaulted tomb (Ivanovski, 1996). In 1998 a Macedonian - American project, directed by Kiril Trajkovski from the Museum of Macedonia and Carolyn S. Snively from Gettysburg College surveyed the site and its immediate environment. Their objectives were to find, identify, and describe the features of the site visible on the surface and to record them on a topographical plan; to examine the Rotunda searching for answers to specific architectural and liturgical questions; and to collect and analyze ceramic material from the surface survey and test trenches (Snively, 2002). From the year 2000 to 2004 the main focus was the excavation of the acropolis, and from 2005 till today under the leadership of Goran Sanev from the Archaeological Museum of Macedonia and Carolyn S. Snively of Gettysburg College, the focus is placed on the northern terrace wherein 2005 the large Episcopal basilica, the subject of this work, first appeared. Taking into consideration that this is an exceptionally rich site and that there are open archaeological issues that are studied for almost a century we have numerous published papers on this topic. Various aspects of life in this city have been covered in these papers, such as the artistic value of the findings, their origin, the development of the city's urban planning, cemeteries and many more. But despite the researchers' great interest, nobody has paid special attention to the problem of the architectural members of the Episcopal Basilica so far. In my belief, the main reason for this is the fact that the researchers have focused on the more important problems covering the life and development of the Late Roman town. The main objective of this paper is the study of this part of the entire archaeological material. The material is presented as a whole and upgraded with new information obtained through the latest archaeological excavations thus trying to answer the larger part of the open issues. The presentation of the archaeological material from the site gives an opportunity for adequate processing of one part of the enormous archaeological fundus discovered as a result of the systematic archaeological research of Golemo Gradište where I have been an active participant starting as of 2011 until the present. The presentation of this material will be my modest contribution to science. This thesis is a kind of monographic presentation of the Golemo Gradište archaeological site in a characteristic period of human history where great changes occurred, with a special focus on the construction work of the Episcopal Basilica, the architectural members of this building and the origin of the material used in the construction. I am primarily referring to the period of Justinian's construction works. The approach to the research of this thesis is multidisciplinary, and therefore all available information about the region is considered. The main focus is placed on the material from the basilica i.e., its structural elements. Not a single piece of this material has ever been published. The processing of the material, its systematization and typological determination are done by a comparative analysis with current knowledge of archaeological science. The items are processed in a catalogue, presented with photographs and drawings and they are classified according to the material they were made from, according to the function they had, and then chronologically determined and typologically classified where they belong. Samples were taken from certain artefacts, especially from the columns, for laboratory analysis to determine whether they were made from local resources or the material was imported. After taking all the measurements I’m calculating the height of the basilica’s colonnade. The results derived from this research give a clear picture of the true look of the building. Taking into consideration that a large number of the structural elements had been moved (partly by the latest occupants of the settlement and partly by previous excavations) all of the reports from the past excavations are consulted to determine which elements had been moved through the years.

• Keywords: Golemo Gradište, Episcopal Basilica, Architectural members, Column shafts, Capitals, Bases, reconstruction, Rocks, Quarries, Tools