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Cross from pre-Romanesque church in Vrutci

  • arheologija srednji vijek križ

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In 1960 and 1961, archaeological research was conducted at the Crkvina site near the village of Vrutci, not far from Ilidža near Sarajevo, in which a necropolis of 80 stećak tombstones was examined, along with the remains of a pre-Romanesque church mentioned in the charter of Béla IV of Hungary, issued in Glaž in Usora on 20 July 1244. The charter mentions the bishops' fiefs confirmed by the then Ban of Bosnia, Ninoslav.

The stylistic features of the discovered remains of the church’s furnishings, that is, the inventoried ornaments, show the characteristics of well-developed interlace sculpture in patterns dominated by the three-stringed ribbon. The fragments of the cross, as well as the stone beam, from the altar rail tegurium, are decorated with patterns of interlaced three-stringed ribbons, hooks, and perforated ribbing, decorative motifs for which there are precisely dated analogues, especially in today's Dalmatia. It is therefore safe to assume that these fragments of church furnishings, as well as the church itself, date from the second half of the 9th or the first half of the 10th century.

Materials and technique:

Availability 
This artefact can seen in the Archaeology Pavilion as part of the exhibition Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages.
  • arheologija srednji vijek križ