Kotorska Tvrdjava

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KOTOR FORTRESSSTUDIES, CONSERVATION AND REVITALISATION

Ever since the ancient times, the Bay of Kotor (Bocche di Cattaro)has represented a strategically important geographic region. Itsthree spacious mutually connected bays (Herceg Novi, Tivat andKotor bays) form one of the best natural harbors in the world.

The main town and stronghold of the Bay, Kotor (Cattaro), wasfounded at the foot of the mount of St. John, on a strategicallysuitable alluvial plain among the river Skurda, the sea and thespring of Gurdic, Ever since the ancient times, this fortified town,although practically isolated at the deep end of the bay, and for twocenturies surrounded by the Ottomans' territory, had never fallenin the arms of the enemy.

In uncertain times of building of Kotor, topographical conditionswere a determining factor for the choice of location, urban develop-ment and its survival. The oldest fortification gradina(remainsof a fortified town) might had been at the top of the mount of St.John ever since the Illyrian times. Up to the present days, therehave been no traces neither of Roman nor Bisantine fortifications

Economic prosperity of the era of Serbian dynasty Nernanjic(1168-1371) was a necessary condition for the solid construction ofthe town perimeter, whose plan, greatly, corresponds to the con-temporary one. Some parts of the town ramparts and two gates(Gurdic and Valier bastion) have been preserved since those times.

After the fall of Serbian medieval state there was a tumultuousperiod, thus Kotor, after numerous requests, managed in 1420 to putitself under the Venetian protection. The Venetians were graduallycutting down privileges, which had been recognized at the time ofsurrender, and the town was constantly stagnating, because from acommercial center it became a military one. This, however, had asits consequence the increase of interest in town fortifications.

On the southern part of the town ramparts, by the sea, close bythe strong spring of Gurdic, a tower was built in 1470 which wasnamed after that spring. It represents the first large Venetian inter-vention on strengthening the old Kotor fortifications.

Bastion Valier was being explored on several occasions. In itsinterior, the remains of a medieval town rampart were found to-gether with a gate with the characteristics of Romanesque-Gothicstyles of the14th century.

Bastion Gurdic (1470.) sa spoljainjim juinim gradskim vratima (18. v.)

The tower of Gurdic (1470.) with external southern town gate (XVIII c.)

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Vrata od mora - "Porta Martna, 1555. sa kulom gradske straie iProvtdurovom palatom ("Palazzo del Provveditore)

The Seagate - "Porta Martna, 1555, with town guard tower and the ,Ac.,)piMayor Hall (Palazzo del Provveditore) .-:::Jt: Al-I-f ) 'j

Going further along the footpath above the main town gate"Porta Marina, which is at the same time a gallery providing accessto individual rooms of the Town guard tower complex, Rector'spalace and Town hall you come to one of the most important for-tified points of the town - bastion Citadela or Campana. At thetime of its construction, at the beginning of the 16th century, Cita-dela was an autonomous town fortification, which was able todefend itself in case of the siege of the town. Later on, it was linkedwith neighboring curtain, northern and western, and in 1613 by theconstruction of two big cannon openings, so called "Piazza Soranzowas formed, as a lower artillery position towards the port andtown gate. Inappropriate new construction imperiled the buildingheritage tissue.

At the other, eastern part, of the northern curtain, there is a ba-stion Bembo, in some historical sources known even as Vendramin,which was adapted for the purpose of the town summer theatrestage.

Protection and revitalization of fortifications on the hillside isa big problem and in many aspects a non-defined question. Thissector of the fortress is highly inaccessible, neglected and, contraryto the coastal part, in the last eighty years it has not had any, eventemporary, function.

Nevertheless, numerous monumental values of this part of Kotorfortifications, together with the attractiveness of the environmentand views, are a solid prerequisite for finding out possibilities andinterests for their revitalization. Naturally, the main problems in thissense are infrastructure, communications etc., and they have to begenerally resolved. Strategic orientations in the sense of purpose,in the first place should be linked with tourism, culture and so on.

In the last fewyears, with the assistance of UNESCO, US Ambas-sador Fund and the Government of Japan, we have been doing ourbest regarding studies, conservation and revitalisation of Kotorfortress.

Ilija Laiosevic, MSc

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Od davnina je Boka Kotorska (Bocche di Cattaro), predstavljala stra-teski vazan geografski region. Njena tri prostrana, medusobno po-vezana zaliva (Hercegnovski, Tivatski i Kotorski) cine jednu od naj-boljih prirodnih luka na svijetu.

Najvazniji grad i uporiste Boke, Kotor (Cattaro), nalazi se u pod-nozju brda Sv. Ivan na strateski veoma povoljnoj aluvijalnoj zarav-ni, izmedu rijeke Skurde, mora i izvora Gurdic, Od davnina je jakiutvrdeni grad, koji iako prakticno izolovan u dnu zaliva i dva vije-ka okruzen sa svih strana turskom teritorijom, nikada nije paoTurcima u ruke.

U nesigurnim vremenima nastanka Kotora, topografski uslovi subili odlucujuci faktor za izbor polozaja grada, njegov urbani razvojiopstanak. Najstarije utvrdenje - gradina moglo se jos od ilirskihvremena nalaziti na vrhu brda Sv. Ivan, Do sada nisu pronadenitragovi utvrdenja rimskog naselja, kao ni pouzdani ostaci utvrde-nja koja se mogu hronoloski vezati za period vizantijske vlasti.

Ekonomski prosperitet nernanjickog perioda (1168-1371) bioje preduslov za solidnu izgradnju gradskog perimetra, cija se trasau velikoj mjeri podudara sa danasnjern. Iz tog vremena sacuvani sudjelovi gradskog zida i dvije kapije (Gurdic, bastion Valier).

Poslije pada srpske srednjovjekovne drzave, nastupio je buranperiod, pa se Kotor nakon brojnih molbi uspio 1420. godine stavi-ti pod rnletacku vlast. Mlecani su postepeno suzavali privilegijekoje su priznali Kotoru prilikom predaje, a grad je stalno nazadovao,

njevjekovnog gradskog zida zajedno sa kapijom rornano-gotickogstila 14. vijeka.

Produzujuci setnicorn iznad glavnih gradskih vrata, koja jeujedno i gaIerija za pristup pojedinacnim prostorima kompleksaKule gradske straze, Providurove palate iVijecnice dolazi se do jed-nog od najznacajnijih utvrdenih gradskih polozaja, bastiona Cita-dele (Citadela ili Campana]. U vrijeme kada je nastala, pocet-kom 16. vijeka, Citadel a je bila autonomno gradsko utvrdjenje kojese mogIo braniti i u slucaju opsade grada. ana je kasnije povezanasa susjednim kortinama, a 1613.godine otvaranjem dvije velike to-parnice formirana je tzv. Piazza Soranzo nizi artiljerijski polozajprema luci i gradskim vratima. Neprimjerena novogradnja ugro-zila je spornenicko graditeljsko tkivo bastiona.

Na drugom, istocnorn dijelu sjevernog bedema nalazi se ba-stion Bembo, u nekim istorijskim izvorima poznat i pod imenomVendramin koji je adaptiran za potrebe gradske Ijetnje pozornice.

Zastita i revitalizacija utvrdenja u brdu veliki je problem i vise-struko nedefinisano pitanje. Ovaj sektor tvrdave izrazito je nepri-stupacan, zapusten i za razliku od priobalnog dijela, u posljednjihosamdeset godina nije imao nikakvu, cak ni privremenu funkciju.

Tvrdava Citadela (Sv. Ivan) i dio istocnog bedema

Castle Cittadela (St. John) and a part of eastern ramparts

jer se od privrednog i trgovackog pretvorio u vojno srediste. Ovoje, medutirn, za posljedicu imalo povecano interesovanje za grad-ska utvrdenja.

Poslije rnletackog perioda nastupio je austrijski (1814-1918)tokom koga je Kotorska tvrdava stalno bila u funkciji, a od tada jepermanentno zapustena i izlozena propadanju.

Na juznorn dijelu gradskih bedema pored mora u blizini izvoraGurdic 1470. godine sagradena je kula koja je dobila ime po ovomizvoru. ana predstavlja prvu veliku rnletacku intervenciju ojaca-nja kotorskih bedema. Istrazivanja Bastiona Valijer vrsena su u ne-koliko navrata. U njegovoj unutrasnjosti su pronadeni ostaci sred-

Ipak, brojne spornenicke vrijednosti ovog dijela kotorskih forti-fikacija, uz atraktivnost prirodne okoline i vizura, solidan su pred-uslov iznalazenja mogucnosti i interesa za njihovu revitalizaciju.Svakako da su u ovom pogledu osnovni problemi infrastruktura,komunikacije i dr., a oni moraju biti generalno rijeseni, Strateskaopredijeljenja u pogledu namjene u prvom redu bi morala biti ve-zana sa turizam, kulturu i sI.

U posljednjih par godina, uz pornoc UNESCO-a, Fonda Ame-rickog ambasadora i Vlade Iapana ulazu se znacajni napori na pro-ucavanju, zastiti i revitalizaciji Kotorske tvrdave.

mr flija Laloievic

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