Church of Saint Stephen on Otok
Church of Saint Stephen was a 10th-century church in Salona, currently an archaeological site located in todays Solin, Croatia. Its atrium served as a mausoleum of Croatian medieval rulers. It is one of the two medieval churches on the site, the other being dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
| Church of St. Stephen | |
|---|---|
Crkva sv. Stjepana na Otoku | |
 Layout of excaveted 10th century church of St. Stephen can be seen on bottom left corner of the image | |
| General information | |
| Type | pre-Romanesque three nave basilica |
| Town or city | Solin |
| Country | Croatia |
| Completed | 10th century |
| Destroyed | presumably early 16th century |
| Landlord | Catholic Church |
| Design and construction | |
| Main contractor | Helen of Zadar |
History
According to writings of 13th century medieval chronicler, Thomas the Archdeacon, the Church of St. Stephen was built by queen Helen of Zadar, who then donated them to diocese of Split. Thomas claims, that the churches were temporarily given to some monks who there performed their rituals, due to the royal tombs being inside, until king Zvonimir of Croatia donated them back to the diocese of Split.[1] Thomas noted on:
"that's where magnificent man king Krešimir rests, along with many other kings and queens in atrium of basilica of St. Stephen".[1]
Although this area was affected by the Mongol invasions of 13th century, who chased Hungarian king Bela IV all the way to Dalmatia and besieged the nearby Klis fortress, most Croatian scholars nowadays agree that the church of St. Stephen survived these invasions, since it is still visible on 14th century maps. They presume, however, that it was destroyed somewhere in early 16th century, during the Ottoman invasions.[2][3]
Archeological excavations
During the construction of a new bell tower in the late 19th century, construction engineers, recognised the remains of some old church walls and invited archeologists to conduct the archeological research of these remains. The research led by Frane Bulić was conducted during the summer of 1898[4] and as a result of it, fragmented and burnt remains of an epitaph were found. After more than 90 fragments were recovered, Bulić and his team had them reconstructed and got the following inscription:
In this tomb rests queen Helen, servant of God, wife of king Michael, mother of king Stephen [...] On the eight day, month of October, she was buried here, 976th year after ascention of Lord [...] She, who was during her life a mother of Kingdom, became (the mother) of poor and protector of widows. By looking here, say thou man: God, give mercy to her soul!"[5]
References
- the Archdeacon, Thomas (2003). "De promotione Laurentii archiepiscopi". HISTORIA SALONITANA. Split: Književni krug. ISBN 953-163-189-1.
- "Gospin otok". Grad Solin (in Croatian). 20 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
- Bulić, Frane. "IZVJEŠTAJ predsjednika društvenoga mons. Fr. Bulića crkvi sv. Marije od Otoka i nadgrobnom napisu kraljice Jelene".
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Piplović, Stanko. "Kako je otkriven mauzolej hrvatskih kraljeva u Solinu". Radovi zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU.
- Gunjača, Stjepan. "Uz proslavu tisuće obljetnice natpisa na sarkofagu kraljice Jelene u Solinu (976-1976)". U prvome planu.