Renaissance

In the 15th century, Croatia was divided between three states – northern Croatia was a part of the Austrian Empire, Dalmatia was under the rule of the Venetian Republic (with the exception of Dubrovnik), and Slavonia was under Ottoman occupation. Dalmatia was on the periphery of several influences, equidistant from Italy, Ottoman Bosnia, and Austria, so it drew influence from all. In those circumstances in Dalmatia flourished religious and public architecture with clear influences of the Italian Renaissance, but still original.

Only in this kind of environment, free of dogmas and self-governed – far from major governing centers – could it be possible for the artisan known as Giorgio da Sebenico (Juraj Dalmatinac) to build a church entirely as his own project – the Šibenik Cathedral of St James, constructed in 1441. Besides mixing the Gothic and Renaissance styles it was also original in its unity of stone building and montage construction (big stone blocks, pilasters , and ribs were bounded with joints and slots on them – without concrete) in the way that was usual in wooden constructions. This was a unique building with so-called three-leaves frontal and half-barrel vaults, the first in Europe. The cathedral and its original stone dome was finished by Nikola Firentinac following the original plans of Juraj.

In the entire area of the Republic of Ragusa there were numerous villas of nobility, unique by their functionality and spatial organization, a combination of Renaissance villa and government building. Sorkočević’s villa in ‘Lapad’ near Dubrovnik in 1521 is original by the order of its building parts in asymmetrical, dynamic balance.

In northwestern Croatia, the beginning of the wars with the Ottoman Empire caused many problems but in the long term it both reinforced the northern influence by establishing the Austrians as the rulers of a large part of Croatia. With permanent danger from the Ottomans in the east, there was only a modest influence of the Renaissance, while fortifications thrived. The plan for the fortified city of Karlovac in 1579 was the first entirely new urban city to be built by Renaissance plans (so called “ideal city” plan) in Europe. It was built in radial plan, later common in Baroque city design. The Renaissance fort of the Ratkay family in Veliki Tabor from the 16th century has mixed features of Gothic architecture (high roofs) and Renaissance (cluster and round towers) making it an example of Mannerism.

The Renaissance is a period in history and a cultural movement marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity, covering the 15th and 16th centuries and characterized by an effort to revive and surpass the ideas and achievements of classical antiquity; it occurred after the crisis of the Late Middle Ages and was associated with great social change in most fields and disciplines, including art, architecture, politics, literature, exploration and science. In addition to the standard periodization, proponents of a “long Renaissance” may put its beginning in the 14th century and its end in the 17th century.