Maps of Power

Church of St. Peter in Zavala, Altar Screen

Begin between 01.01.0800 and 31.12.0900
End 31.12.1300

Properties

ID 132762
System Class Artifact
Artifact Church Furnishing
Case Study Beyond East and West: Sacred Landscapes Duklja and Raška , Tabula Imperii Byzantini , TIB 17
Stylistic Classification Pre-Romanesque

Description

Among the sculptural remains found during the excavation of the Church of St. Peter in Zavala near Popovo Polje (in the vicinity of Trebinje), the altar screen deserves special attention. The preserved fragments are decorated with three-part ribbon ornaments, and the fragment with depictions of birds is particularly interesting. Most fragments have different geometrical ornaments and images of birds that symbolise the Eucharist. Most scholars date the altar screen to the 9th or 10th century. It is kept in the Museum of Hercegovina in Trebinje.

Relations

Actors (1)
Name Class Begin End Relation Type Description
Museum of Hercegovina in Trebinje Group The museum was established in 1952. It conducted the first excavation on the Church of St. Peter in Zavala in 1957. In 1975 the museum initiated the journal Tribunija.
Places (1)
Name Class Begin End Description
Zavala, Church of St. Peter Place The Church of St. Peter in Zavala is situated on the Western rim of Popovo Polje, 50km to the West of the town of Trebinje. It is first mentioned in the written sources from the 16th century. The original appearance of the Church of St. Peter in Zavala is interpreted in two ways: as an example of a building with four pillars, like the Church of St. Mikula in Split (Tihić / Basler) or as a single-nave building (Jovanović). The church is known for its sculptural decoration dated to the 9th and the 10th centuries, however fragments of the altar screen undoubtedly point to the conclusion that the Church of St. Peter in Zavala was built probably in the 11th century. Researchers believe that the sculptural decoration belonged to the original church (which indicates that the remains of today's church are of a much later date) or they were transferred from the church, the remains of which were found beneath the katholikon of the nearby Monastery of Zavala. Remains of the alter screen with motifs of the Eucharist, ambons and tombstones are kept at the Museum of Hercegovina in Trebinje. Most fragments have different geometrical ornaments and images of birds that symbolise the Eucharist.

Files

Altar Screen from the Church of St. Peter in Zavala near Trebinje
Altar Screen from the Church of St. Peter in Zavala near Trebinje