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IV
GRADO
From Aquileia a steam-launch plies back and forth,
to Grado, a distance of some six or seven miles, at first along a canal with
grassy banks plentifully besprinkled with giant snowdrops in the spring, then
through wide stretches of lagoon along a channel, marked by piles, sometimes
approaching the fishermen's huts, which occupy the summit of slight elevations
rising but little above the surface of the water. These huts are mere shelters
of reeds, and, one would think, quite unfit for human habitation, but close by
them the nets may be seen drying, and perhaps food in course of preparation over
an open fire, while the boat, thrust into a creek or tied to a stake, occupies
the foreground. These wide-spreading lagoons, the resort of many kinds of
water-fowl in their passage from north to south and
vice versa, are very pictorial. The enclosures in which fish brought in
by the tide are retained, the beds of reeds and rushes with yellow water-lilies,
the figures of women and children wading and seeking fishy treasures, provide
excellent material for the artist. Occasionally a boat passes in which a woman
is taking fish to Aquileia, leaving behind it a long trail of ripples. The two
great campanili, of Grado which we are nearing, and of Aquileia passing into the
distance behind us, each with its cluster of low buildings around, are prominent
against the horizon showing dark against the fine [42] cumulus clouds, which are heaped in sharply denned masses against the blue of the upper sky and rise
in threatening billows like exhalations from some vast cauldron, soon to fade away innocuously in the late afternoon.
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A corner in Grado |
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Grado
is on one of the islands of which a chain stretches from the mouth of the Isonzo
to that of the Brenta right across the northern border of the Adriatic. Its port
was one of the harbours of Aquileia, at first for purposes of war, but later for
those of commerce. The town was square in plan, walled, and full of people.
Cassiodorus speaks of its material conditions. The modern town is most
picturesque, with narrow streets and numerous courtyards, with outside
staircases, quaint shops, and fascinating plays of light and shade, and so much
of the life of the people passes in the open air that there is always
interesting matter for observation. It is a seaside resort, visited a good deal
for bathing during the summer months, and there is also, as at Rovigno, an
establishment for scrofulous children. But its chief attraction for us is
archaeological, for it contains early Christian antiquities of considerable
importance.
Its greatest prosperity was between the time of the
great wanderings of the peoples and the descent of the barbarians into Italy.
Its patriarch took the lead in establishing the government of the islands from
which the Venetian Republic sprang. In 460 Nicetas called all the bishops,
clergy, and leading officials of the islands together to deliberate on the
question of government, and, after discussion, they agreed to establish one
under the directorship of Tribunes. The first tribune was to live at Grado, with
three others, called "maggiori," but depending upon him, one for Rivoalto, one
for Candeana, and one for Dorsea, living at Rialto, Eraclea, and Torcello
respectively. They had charge of the administration of justice, presided over
the execution of the [43] laws, enforced discipline, and met at times in
council to discuss propositions laid before them. Grado lost its supremacy in
696, when the assembly held at Eraclea gave it to that city, though the
Patriarch of Grado, Cristoforo, was given equality with the three tribunes which
Eraclea then had. The next year the first doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was
elected. It was by means of Fortunatus of Trieste, Patriarch of Grado (803-825),
that the cry of the Istrians, oppressed by the Frankish duke and his supporters,
came to the ears of Charlemagne, with the result that after a strict inquiry
held at Risano in 804, when the representatives of the cities and castella
exposed the odious proceedings of the bishop, the duke, and their adherents,
they obtained redress. In 875 the Saracens attacked Grado, but were repulsed.
The next year a similar attack was made by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia,
but the Doge Orso met them, defeated them, and gave back to several Istrian
towns objects of which they had been robbed.
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Pulpit - Cathedral,
Grado |
Between Grado and Aquileia there was a constant
struggle for supremacy, which was in reality a contest between Venice and the
empire, Aquileia standing for the latter and Grado for the former. A formal
peace was concluded between them during the Lateran Council of 1180, by which the
Patriarch of Grado renounced all claims over the Istrian bishoprics, except as
regards the hundred
amphoras of wine sent by Capodistria from 1075, given as a
personal honour to the Doge Pietro Candiano, and by him handed over to the
Patriarch of Grado. In 452 the Patriarch of Aquileia fled to Grado from the
Huns, returning after they had passed, and in 578, when Aquileia had become
Lombard, Paulinus transferred his seat to Grado, thus putting himself under
Byzantine protection. In 579 a synod was held in the church. From 607 there were
two patriarchs—one in Grado and one in Aquileia—established for political [44] reasons by the Lombards; they were schismatical,
that is to say, adherents of the "three chapters." During the continuance of
this schism, in 610, three Istrian bishops were taken from their very churches
by the military, and carried off to Grado, where they were compelled to bend to
the Imperial will in the matter. Gregory III. sanctioned the division of the two
patriarchates in 731, both having become orthodox, Aquileia in 698 and Grado in
715. In 1451 the patriarchate of Grado was transferred to Venice, where the
patriarch had been living for a long time.
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| Campanile, Grado [photo by Mario
Majarich, 2004] |
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The foundations of the cathedral were laid under
Nicetas (456) by the architect Paulus, who was sent to him by Pope Leo I. The
plan is Romanesque, a basilica with nave and aisles and no transept, the nave
terminating in an apse eastward. It has two western doors, which open into a
portico of almost the whole breadth of the church, part being cut off by the
campanile, which is nearly 20 ft. square and over 160 ft. high. The clerestory
and low-pitched wooden roof of the nave are supported by two piers and ten
columns on each side. The columns are antique, but of varied material—cipollino,
white and black and white-veined marble, and granite; and there is one of a rosy
and white breccia. The caps vary both in design and size, and have been repaired
with stucco. Some of them are decadent Roman and the rest Byzantine; the bases
are hidden by a square wooden boxing. The eleven arches of the nave arcade are
round. The round-headed windows of both nave and aisles had pierced slabs of
stone in them, but in 1740 the openings were made lunette-shaped. One pierced
slab of the ninth century has been found, and is now placed high up in the apse
above the patriarch's throne.
Under Fortunatus and John the Younger, about the
beginning of the ninth century, the church appears to [45] have been beautified and again, in the second
half of the tenth, under Vitalis. It is related that the relics were then
provided with fresh receptacles and inscriptions. The choir occupies three bays
of the nave, with a modern enclosure raised by several steps. Just outside the
rail, by the fourth column on the left, stands the interesting pulpit, which has
a later canopy, but itself appears to be of the ninth century, judging by the
columns, two of which are twisted, and by the carving of the symbols of the
Evangelists, which seems to be rather later. On the other hand, there is a
square O in the inscription on S. John's book, of which other instances occur at
Cattaro in an inscription of the ninth century, and in one of the seventh at
Spalato. The pulpit is sexfoil in plan; one side is open, and one has a large
cross carved upon it. The canopy has six fourteenth or fifteenth-century
octagonal colonnettes, supporting ogee trefoiled arches with a domical
termination, coloured in red and white chequers, and with scrolls and rosettes
of red on the spandrils of the arches below. The shape and decoration show Arab
influence strongly.
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The patriarch's throne
Cathedral, Grado |
In the pavement is still preserved a great deal of
that laid down by Elias in the sixth century. It filled the nave, being entirely
worked in tesseræ of very few colours—black, a green-grey, red, yellow, and
white. From the west door a pattern, surrounded by a border, stretches as far as
the fifth pair of columns. It consists of a central band of a wavy pattern,
interrupted by inscriptions and medallions; the easternmost one is blank and
has a running border, with the corners of the square (cut off by the band of
inscriptions) filled with scroll-work. The side portions are cut up into squares
by bands of open interfacings, with ivy leaves in the interstices, and different
designs within the squares, or with inscriptions, most of them in Latin, but one
in [46] Greek. They record the gift of so many feet of
pavement, as at Parenzo; and one donor, Laurentius the Viscount Palatine, seems
to have been generous to both cathedrals. A long inscription leaves no doubt as
to the date, and that it was laid down under the Patriarch Elias (571-585); it
runs: "Atria quae cernis vario formata decore squallida sub picto caelatur
marmore tellus longa vetustatis senio fuscaverat ætas prisca en cesserunt magno
novitatis honori praesulis Haeliae studio praestante beati haec sunt tecta pio
semper devota timori."
The flat ceilings and the rococo stucco-work are
due to the restorations of 1740. The apse contains remains of mediæval
painting—a seated Christ of colossal size surrounded by the symbols of the four
Evangelists, with raised right hand and a closed book in the left ; on one side
S. John the Baptist holding an open scroll, and on the other a saint in green,
with gold-shot stole and nimbus, but no attribute—both larger than life. The
corners are occupied by the patron saints, Hermagoras and Fortunatus. Round the
apse, just above the patriarch's seat, runs a row of portraits of bishops of
later date, half-lengths, beneath a round-arched, arcade on a gold ground. On
the left nave pier, near the door, are the remains of a painting of S. Helena,
who has nimbus, cross, and book. In the centre of the apse is the ancient
patriarch's seat, with an inscription upon the wall commemorating the ancient
supremacy of the see: it is mainly composed of mutilated ninth-century carved
slabs, probably portions of the chancel of that date. Other slabs with similar
designs and portions of a ciborium are preserved in a little collection of
marbles under a shed behind the apse, where are also several sarcophagi and
other antique fragments.
In the treasury are two early reliquaries of
silver, found beneath the high-altar in August, 1871. One is [47] cylindrical, with a convex lid, upon which is
represented in relief the Virgin enthroned, with the Babe at her breast. Her
right hand holds a cross-headed sceptre, and behind her head is a nimbus with
the usual monogram, MH ΘT. The cylinder has no decoration but two bands of names
of saints in Roman capital letters. These are: " Sanc. Maria, Sanc. Vitvs, Scs.
Cassianvs, Sanc. Pancrativs, Sanc. Ypolitvs, Sanc. Apollinaris, Sanc. Martinvs."
Within is a central cylinder and six compartments radiating from it, which
contained a small cylindrical vase of gold with rings round it, a little glass
flask, closed up and containing water, a little gold box with crosses and a leaf
pattern on the outside, and a cross of dark-green enamel on the cover, a small
slab of chalk or cement with a Greek cross imprinted on it, and several thin
gold plates with the names of saints upon them. Several of the printed accounts
of the discovery of this treasure say that there were six of these plates in the
casket; but the glass case which encloses it and its contents has eleven, with
the names as follows: "Domna Maria, Scs. Cassianvs, Sc. Martinvs, Sc.
Brancativs, Scs. Troteomvs, Sca. Agnes, Scs. Bitvs, Scs. Apolinnaris, Scs.
Hyppolitvs, Scs. Sabastianvs, Scs. Severvs." Dr.
Kandler thought that it came
from the church of S. Niceta in Aquileia, and was brought to the island with
other treasures in 453, for safety, from
Attila. De Rossi thought that the
appellative "Domna" distinguishing the Virgin was an argument against such high
antiquity; but in a later number of his "Bullettino" he described an
inscription of about 457 at Loja, in Spain, in which the title "Domnus" or "Domna" is applied to all the saints, including the Virgin. There is a legend
that "When Paul was patriarch of Aquileia the priest Geminianus was told in a
vision to go to the destroyed city of Trieste to find the bodies of 42 martyrs
buried between the wall of [48] the church dedicated to them and the city wall. Going
thither with many other Venetians he found the holy bodies in the specified
place, covered over with marble slabs, and, taking them, went to the destroyed
city of Aquileia, where he added to the relics the bodies of Cantius, Cantianus,
Cantianilla, and the virgins Euphemia, Dorothea, Thecla, and Erasma, and then
took them all to Grado.'' Paul is Paulinus I. (557-569), and the occurrence took
place after the Lombards had gone by in 568. The forty-two martyrs were laid
side by side in the church of S. Vitale, and Paul died the next year.
The other reliquary is elliptical, and has upon its
sides reliefs and inscriptions bordered with a rough leaf-moulding. Round the
middle are eight medallions with male and female heads, divided into two groups
of five and three by palm-trees. Above and below is a row of names; those of
the top row being: "@ Sanctvs Cantivs, Sanc. Cantianvs, Sancta Cantianilla,
Santvs Qvirinvs, Santvs Latinv." The lower row runs:
"@ S. Lavrentivs, vs
loannes, vs Niceforvs Santisreddedidbotvm" (vir spectabilis, &c.,
reddidit votum). The use of b for v is characteristic of the period of the
Patriarch Elias. The cover is slightly domical; upon it are two lambs, and
between them a gemmed cross. They stand on a hill from which the four rivers of
Paradise flow. Within was a second silver casket filled with water, and some
remains of relics. At Pola some reliquaries of somewhat the same kind were
found, of which a description will be given later.
In the Museo Sacro of the Vatican library is a
similar capsella found at Aïn Beida in Tunisia. It is oval, and has the same
bands of ornament; round the body are reliefs. On one side is a lamb with a
cross above his back, and on either side four sheep (with [49] tufted tails, a Tunisian variety) coming towards
him from an arched and pillared building. On the other is the La.ba.rum monogram
with ornamental terminations on a hill from which the four Paradise streams
flow; a stag on either side kneels to drink. On the cover stands a saint, on the
four Paradise streams, between two lighted tapers in candlesticks, holding a
crown; whilst the hand of God holds another over his head. There are no nimbi.
The reliquary was empty and without any compartments. De Rossi pronounced it to
be of the sixth century, or the end of the fifth.
The treasury also contains an oblong
fourteenth-century casket and two Limoges gemellions, as well as a good
deal of late silver work, and an interesting altar frontal. The gemellions
are champlevé
on copper, with engraved backs showing traces of gilding. A central circle on
the face contains a shield with a rampant lion, enamelled in blue; round it is
a quatrefoil made by four larger circles which overlap at the re-entering angle.
The spandril spaces are filled with dragon-like monsters on a green ground. The
ring and the shield show metal. The quatrefoil is outlined with white, and
filled with scrolls and figures fighting with each other or with beasts. The
corner pieces have a little tower and scrolls, the windows and cornice are red
enamel, the ground ie green. The outside edge has a zigzag of blue enamel. The
hole through which the water was poured over the hands has a spout representing
an animal's head. I believe these basins to be the only examples of
Limoges work
to be found along the coast.
The altar-frontal is inscribed: "@ MCCCLXII
de-Settembrio in lo tempo del nobele Miser Andrea Contarini Doxe di Vanesia e
Miser Francesco Contarini. Conte de' Grado fo fatta questa palla e Donado
Maca-lorso da Vinesiamefece." It is of silver-gilt, 4 ft. 7 in. [50] high and 7 ft. 4 in. long, with twenty-one
divisions, in three rows of seven panels, the bars being covered with leaf
scrolls and with medallion half-lengths of Greek saints at the crossings.
In the upper middle panel, is a half-length "Ecce Homo," right and left are the
symbols of the Evangelists, rand the outer corners have the Annunciation—the
Virgin on the right, and the angel on the left. In the centre of the second row
Christ sits in the attitude of blessing, with raised right hand, and holding an
open book in the left. On its pages is inscribed: "Ego sum lux mundi qui in me
crediderit non morietur in Kternum Amen." On the right are SS. John, Paul, and
Fortunatus; on the left, SS. Felix, Peter, and Martha. In the lowest row the
centre shows a chalice with the Host; on the right, SS. Hermagoras, Theda, and
Erasma; on the left, SS. Dorothea, Euphemia, and another Fortunatus.
The patriarchal seat given by Heraclius to the
Patriarch Primigenius was taken in 1520 to S. Mark's, Venice, where it may still
be seen in the treasury. Pasini says it is certainly of Egyptian manufacture, in
proof of which both the character of the ornaments and tradition are invoked.
The Chronicles of the Acts of S. Mark in Aquileia, which are earlier than the
eleventh century, say that it was covered with ivory plaques, "utique antiquo,"
but the large amount of carving upon it leaves little space for the attachment
of further ornament. Its history seems quite clear. Heraclius brought it from
Alexandria to Constantinople about 630, and between 1520 and 1534 it was behind
the high-altar of S. Mark's. In the latter year it was moved into the baptistery
on to the altar, where it stayed till taken into the treasury.
It is made of Oriental cipollino. The medallion at
the top is cemented on. On it is a crux ansata, with [51] two figures at the sides, both in front and behind,
believed to be the four Evangelists. On the exterior of the arms are ten lighted
tapers, thought to symbolise the ten churches founded in Africa by SS. Matthew
and Mark. Below the medallion in front is a Lamb on a hill, from which the
rivers of Paradise flow, and on which is either a vine or a fig-tree. On the
back are an eagle and a lion, each with six wings. The background is starred,
there are two palms at the bottom, and a Tree of Life in the space between the
lion's lower wings. Above the eagle's head is a crescent. Beneath the tapers on
the outside is a bull with six wings on a starred background, and on the other
side an angel, also with six wings, with two palms below, and two little
two-winged trumpeting angels in the top comers, on a similarly starred ground.
These three sides have a band of lattice-work at the base; the front has a pane!
with zigzag lines. The inscription on the front has puzzled paleographists. It
has been read as Hebrew and as stating that it is the chair of S. Mark. A hole
in the hack and another in the side are thought to have perhaps held the debris
of the wooden chair which he actually used.
Herr Graeven believes that he has identified
several plaques of ivory which belonged to the chair in different museums. They
all display the type of head afterwards used for S. Paul in Western art, which
Dr. Strzygowski has identified as representing S. Mark in Alexandrian ivories.
The octagonal baptistery, to the north of the
cathedral, shows no sign of its age, which must no doubt be considerable; near
to it is the church of S. Maria delle Grazie, which has fragments of similar
paving to that in the cathedral, including the inscriptions. In the floor in
front of the altar are also several pieces of ninth-century cihorium heads, and
bits of [52] twelfth-century carving. It is possible that the baptistery once had a
canopy such as still exists at Cividale, and that the fragments here and at the
cathedral formed part of it. The nave has six bays, with five antique columns on
each side, of cipollino, granite, white and black, and white-veined marble. The
caps are very varied. Some are Byzantine of the type of those at S. Apollinare
in Classe; two are truncated reversed pyramids with roughly cut scrolls on the
surface, and one of these has a super-abacus. Two of them are queer, rough
things, with brackets at the angles in place of volutes, and a deep abacus
sloping back, with a cross upon it. The bases of the pillars are boxed in, as at
the cathedral. An antique base serves as support to the holy-water basin. The
floor has been mended with slabs or red and white marble and tiles, and the
mosaic goes on into the rooms which flank the apse, at the ends of the aisles.
This arrangement of the plan is exactly the same as that in a church at
Kanytelides not far from Tarsus, the plan of which Miss Lowthian Bell gives in
her book on Cilicia and Lycaonia; it also occurs in the church of Bir-Umm-Ali in
Tunisia. De Vogué gives two plans closely resembling it, and Mr. H. C. Butler
describes some very similar plans near Is-Sanemên in the Northern Haurân (the
ancient Ære), which are probably Constantinian. It seems certain that it is an
Oriental importation, especially in connection with the fact that the
free-standing apse, as in the earner church at Parenzo and at Salona, occurs
quite frequently in Cilicia and Lycaonia, as Miss Lowthian Bell shows.
Between Grado and Aquileia is a little island with
a celebrated church, S. Maria di Barbana. In the early centuries of the
Christian era legend says that a picture of the Virgin floated hither on a
springtide, and was caught in the branches of a little tree, which lived till
[53] the middle of the nineteenth century when a great
storm destroyed it. The picture and the church which contains it are the object
of an annual pilgrimage on the Feast of the Assumption ; people from all around
accompany a sacred picture from Grado to visit it. On this day the lagoon is
alive with numberless craft, the priests boat leading, with banners and tapers
and fully vested ecclesiastics; and the air resounds with simple church
melodies. At Barbana the Virgin's picture waits on the pier to greet that from
Grado; and report says that it has been observed to nod at the int the sister
picture reached the shore!
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