In collaboration with the Art History Department at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Mostar, a guest lecture was held by Dr. Josip Belamarić on the topic "Marjan – the sacred and magical mountain of Split: from the sanctuary of Diana to the hermitage of St. Jerome."
Dr. Belamarić stated that anyone familiar with Split knows that it is a unique combination of Diocletian's Palace on one side and Marjan on the other. "Marjan has been, from time immemorial, from geological times to the present day, the fundamental symbol of Split. Students must understand that one phenomenon is explained through interdisciplinary methods. In art history, it is not possible to look at things linearly; instead, a whole range of other methods should be used."
He presented some of the key theses from the author's book "St. Jerome on Marjan," published after a major exhibition of the same title at the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments in Split. The exhibition depicted the development of the hermitage of St. Jerome at the western end of Marjan, where, unlike many other places on the Croatian coast, the sacred and religious were inseparably linked with the profane and secular for centuries.
The focus of the lecture was the hermitage of St. Jerome – the most important sanctuary of the late medieval and Renaissance periods in Dalmatia. "The hermitage emerged in the heart of a spacious grove beneath the cliffs of Marjan, where, in ancient times, a sanctuary dedicated to the goddess Diana existed. As probably one of the most significant pilgrimage cult centers of Roman Illyricum, it was obliterated in the early Christian era, only to be soon transformed into a space marked by a cluster of hermit oratories, churches, and chapels that the people of Split would visit for centuries in processions," explained Dr. Belamarić.
Dr. Belamarić touched upon a series of artworks that suggestively testify to the importance of St. Jerome as the national saint and protector of Dalmatia at that time. He paid special attention to a series of reliefs depicting St. Jerome in the desert, created by Andrija Aleši and Nikola Firentinac. "A more careful analysis of his reliefs depicting St. Jerome in the desert reveals them as an almost obsessive theme for the master. These reliefs are a kind of key to Nikola's view of sculptural form, a unique code that connects his activities as an architect and sculptor."
Josip Belamarić graduated from the University of Zagreb with an interdisciplinary degree in art history and musicology, and later obtained his master's and doctoral degrees there. He has published several books and numerous articles and studies on historical urbanism, specifically on medieval and Renaissance art on the Croatian coast. He has served as the President of the Society of Conservators of Croatia and the Secretary of the National Committee of ICOMOS.
*The text has been translated by artificial intelligence.
