The Croatian interlace or Croatian wattle, known as the pleter or troplet in Croatian, is a type of interlace, most characteristic for its three-ribbon pattern. It is one of the most often used patterns of pre-romanesque Croatian art. It is found on and within churches as well as monasteries built in early medieval Kingdom of Croatia between the 9th and beginning of the 12th century. The ornamental strings were sometimes grouped together with animal and herbal figures.
Most representative examples of inscriptions embellished with the interlace include the Baška tablet, Baptismal font of Prince Višeslav and the Branimir Inscription. Other notable examples are located near Knin, in Ždrapanj and Žavić by the Bribir settlement, Rižinice near Solin and in Split and Zadar. [1]
Croatia has a civil and military decoration called the Order of the Croatian Interlace. [2]
Examples:
Celtic knots are a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celtic style of Insular art. These knots are most known for their adaptation for use in the ornamentation of Christian monuments and manuscripts, such as the 8th-century St. Teilo Gospels, the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. Most are endless knots, and many are varieties of basket weave knots.
The Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They also form a sizeable minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
The culture of Croatia has historically been influenced by Central European, Mediterranean, and Balkan cultures. Croatia's unique culture and identity can be traced back to the historical llyricum. The Croatian language is believed to have been formed in the 6th or 7th century, with the written language present in Glagolitic texts from the 11th century.
Baška tablet is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from c. 1100 AD. On it Croatian ethnonym and king Demetrius Zvonimir are mentioned for the first time in native Croatian language. The inscription is written in the Glagolitic script. It was discovered in 1851 at Church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor near the village of Baška on the Croatian island of Krk.
The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary is a syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. It has been suggested that the script remained in use as late as the 1st century BC. A pioneer of that change was King Evagoras of Salamis. It is thought to be descended from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, itself a variant or derivative of Linear A. Most texts using the script are in the Arcadocypriot dialect of Greek, but also one bilingual inscription was found in Amathus.
The Pre-Romanesque period in European art spans from the emergence of the Merovingian kingdom around 500 AD, or from the Carolingian Renaissance in the late 8th century, to the beginning of the Romanesque period in the 11th century. While the term is typically used in English to refer primarily to architecture and monumental sculpture, this article will briefly cover all the arts of the period.
The system of honours of the Republic of Croatia was established after the independence of Croatia in 1991. There are nineteen main decorations conferred since 2019, in addition to several other medals and awards.
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe. Art historians usually group Insular art as part of the Migration Period art movement as well as Early Medieval Western art, and it is the combination of these two traditions that gives the style its special character.
The architecture of Croatia has roots in a long history: the Croats have inhabited the area for fourteen centuries, but there are important remnants of earlier periods still preserved in the country. The historic architecture of most old towns on the coast is Venetian, a legacy of the Venetian empire. The Habsburg and Ottoman empires also influenced the architecture of the region.
Croatian art describes the visual arts in Croatia, and art by Croatian artists from prehistoric times to the present. In Early Middle Ages, Croatia was an important centre for art and architecture in south eastern Europe. There were many Croatian artists during the Medieval period, and the arts flourished during the Renaissance. Later styles in Croatia included Baroque and Rococo.
The non-native name of Croatia derives from Medieval Latin Croātia, itself a derivation of the native ethnonym of Croats, earlier *Xъrvate and modern-day Croatian: Hrvati. The earliest preserved mentions of the ethnonym in stone inscriptions and written documents in the territory of Croatia are dated to the 8th-9th century, but it is of an earlier date due to lack of preserved historical evidence as the arrival of the Croats is historically and archaeologically dated to the 6th-7th century. The ethnonym of the Croats with many derivative toponyms and anthroponyms became widespread all over Europe.
Plomin tablet is a Glagolitic inscription in Croatian at the outer wall of the church of Saint George in Plomin, Croatia. Roman god of flora and fauna Silvanus is portrayed. This inscription bears witness of early parallelism of two cultural currents on Istrian territory: Romance symbol is an Antique relief, and Slavic, i.e. Croatian symbol is the Croatian language and Glagolitic script.
The Church of the Holy Salvation or Holy Saviour was a Pre-Romanesque church in the Dalmatian Hinterland, Croatia, whose ruins are now a historic site. It is located in the small village of Cetina, near the spring of the river Cetina, 8 km northwest from the town of Vrlika.
In the visual arts, interlace is a decorative element found in medieval art. In interlace, bands or portions of other motifs are looped, braided, and knotted in complex geometric patterns, often to fill a space. Interlacing is common in the Migration period art of Northern Europe, in the early medieval Insular art of Britain and Ireland, and Norse art of the Early Middle Ages, and in Islamic art.
Croatian Pre-Romanesque art and architecture or Old Croatian Art is Pre-Romanesque art and architecture of Croats from their arrival at Balkans till the end of the 11th century when begins the dominance of Romanesque style in art; that was the time of Croatian rulers.
The Branimir inscription is the oldest preserved monument containing an inscription defining a Croatian medieval ruler as a duke of Croats – Dux Cruatorum. The inscription was originally a part of templon of a church in Šopot at Benkovac built by Duke Branimir, who ruled Croatia from 879–892.
In the early Middle Ages, there were distinct material cultures evident in the different federations and kingdoms within what is now Scotland. Pictish art was the only uniquely Scottish medieval style; it can be seen in the extensive survival of carved stones, particularly in the north and east of the country, which hold a variety of recurring images and patterns. It can also be seen in elaborate metal work that largely survives in buried hoards. Irish-Scots art from the kingdom of Dál Riata suggests that it was one of the places, as a crossroads between cultures, where the Insular style developed.
The Church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor near Baška, Krk, Croatia is a Romanesque Catholic church from the year 1100 with two major medieval Croatian artifacts: the Baška Tablet, and a checkerboard-pattern carving on the bell tower that is suspected to be one of the first instances of the Croatian coat of arms.
Branko Fučić was a Croatian art historian, archeologist and paleographer.
The Baptismal font of Duke Višeslav is an early medieval baptismal font of historical and cultural significance for Croatia. Its inscription mentions for the first time a duke called Višeslav, presumably dated to the 9th century.