Oprtalj
(Portole) is village on
a hill (380 m above sea level) in Istria,
27 km east of Buje;
pop. [1972] about 380.
Erected
on the site of a prehistoric earthwork (castelliere?],
Roman and mediaeval archaeological finds show that Oprtalj has been
continuously inhabited. In the Middle Ages, it was first in the
possession of various feudal families.
In was first mentioned as Castrum Portulense in Histria
in 1102
in a document by Ulrich II, the Marchese of Istria,
as being
donated by him as part of his possessions in Istria to the
Church (Patriarch) of Aquileia, but there are inconsistencies
in that document. It was not until
1209 that the town was clearly mentioned as a new
possesion of the Patriarchs of Aquileia. It remained in their
possession until 1420 when the temporal powers of the Patriarchs
ceased. It was
besieged by the Venetian general Arcelli in 1421 and then became part of
the defensive system of the Venetian possessions in Istria.
The people of Oprtalj frequently quarrelled with
the people of Motovun (Montona) over the borders along the Quieto
(Mirna) River and along the woods of St. Mark. In 1342, the fighting
degenerated into an armed conflict, with the inhabitants asking the
intervention of the Marchese of Istria, Giovanni or Ancil of
Stenberg, of Postumia. With a group of sbandati, he invaded
the Montona territory where he inflicted great harm to the
cultivation, vineyards and livestock. The continuing disputes were
partially defined in 1367 upon the visit of the Patriarch of
Aquileia, Marquando di Randeck, and again in 1377, only to be
definitively resolved in 1502, the same year in which a legal
manuscript was attributed to define the Istrian borders of the
region up to the year 1395. That document no longer exists but was
extant when it was transcribed by later scribes in the 15th and 18th
centuries in what is a now-famous compilation in manuscript form of
what is today collectively known as the
Istarski razvod (Reambulazione dei confini).
The town has preserved its medieval lay-out with
narrow streets and lanes, small squares and vaulted passages, but the
preserved buildings from the medieval
period consist only of remains of the defensive walls
that were incorporated into buildings that were erected later.
The most impressive showing of of reinforcement and extension of the
walls is the tower of the town gate, but equally important is the
free-standing bell tower below the parish office. At around 20 m. in
height, it overshadows the entire square town.
The central square is
dominated by the
parish church of St. George, parts of which date
from the second half of the 15th century. Enlarged and provided with
a new facade in the year 1600, the church has three aisles, ribbed
and stellar
Gothic vaulting and a deep polygonal sanctuary whose elements were
decorated and signed by masons from Carniola. The peculiarity of
their reliefs is not limited to the representations of saints. We
are able to notice more secular figures: the knight, the forest man
and black man. Containing Gothic style elements, the church was
consecrated in 1526, at the time when other towns had already gained
Renaissance buildings. The parish church
facade was renovated again in the 18th century, belfry completed,
the town gate reconstructed, and the monumental Milossa Palace was
built on a section of the defensive walls.
The
free-standing campanile of the parish church, standing 20 m. high,
overshadows the entire square.
The Communal Palace (Palazzo comunale)
that
was built next to the parish church in 1471, was
destroyed by fire in 1454 and immediately restored. In 1529 the
Palace's plain facade was embellished by the lion of St. Mark, the
symbol of the Venetian Empire. The palazzo was again restored in
1763 and the lion reset in place, only to have the building
destroyed by fire again during World War II.
Among the changes to the medieval town is the Loggia that was
built in 1765 on the site of an earlier loggia, just outside
the town wall but not far from the town gate, plus the grain
storehouse that was built in the central square. The loggia was
built in Baroque style and is considered the finest example of a
loggia in Istria. It has
a lapidarium and a chapel with partially preserved
16th century mural paintings by the local master Antonio de
Padova. The large relief of St. Mark’s
lion that had been on the facade of the destroyed Communal Palace is
today on display in the Loggia. The lion's unusual anthropomorphic
muzzle reveals that the relief was made by local Carniolan masters.
Earlier, in the second half of the 19th century, two chapels in
the square were pulled down: St. Mary Minor and St. Mary Magdalene.
The latter stood next to the Communal Palace and that of St. Mary
Minor behind the parish church. This means that in the small central
square of Oprtalj there were once as many as three churches.
There are several smaller churches in the area.
Less than a decade after the 1526 consecration of the renovated
church, St. Roch was in construction. It was decorated with
mural paintings of numerous saints by a local master, Antonio de
Padova (now Kašćerga), who probably never envisioned that in the
centuries to follow it would become the mausoleum of wealthy Portole
(Oprtalj) families. The altar-piece
is the work of a follower of Vittore
Carpaccio from the 16th
century, while the the 1530 pala (alterpiece) of the Holy
Trinity is signed by Carpaccio himself. The painting "Madonna of the
Rosary" is the work of Matteo Furlanetto from the 18th century.
About 1 km south of Oprtalj is the single-paved
Romanesque chapel of St. Helen (Sv.
Jelena) with mural
paintings from about 1400, the work of the local master Clerigino
the Elder of Capodistria (Koper). The chapel of St. Silvester,
farther south by the road, contains Renaissance murals by an
anonymous master of a local painting school. In the Church of
St. Leonard is a 17th century Pala
(alterpiece) by Zorzo Ventura from Zadar. Likewise
outside the defensce walls on the road toward Motovun (Montona) is
the chapel of Our Lady (Sv.
Marija Malena) which still retains an inscription from the
Romaneque period. Some of its murals were painted in
1471 by master Clerigino the Younger (Clerigino III?) of Capodistria
(Koper) - scenes of Mary's life in Renaissance style on the round
arch and the south wall - while the rest are the works of three
other painters from the same period who worked under the influence
of the Gothic traditions of Istrian painters.
Sources:
- The Yugoslav Coast, Guide book and Atlas. (English
translation by K. Cizelj). Jugoslavenski Leksikografski Zavod
(Zagreb, 1972)
- Dario Alberi. Istria - storia, arte, cultura. LINT
(Trieste, 1997)
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http://www.europeanvacationguide.com/travel/Oprtalj1127_Overview.html
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http://revitas.org/en/tourist-itineraries/historic-urban-cores/oprtalj,25/oprtalj,70.html