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Tower in centre-line of front elevation -
St. Elias, Bale (Valle) |
Free-standing bell-tower - Visitazione
della Beata Vergine, Bale (Valle) |
Types of Romanesque Bell
Towers in Istria
Apart from the many churches in Istria
that have a
bell gable (campanile a vela), there are 230
steeples in Istria. Of these, 217 are historic.1 The
following is a summary of an article written by Damir Demonja.
In Istria we may distinguish between
types of Romanesque steeples / bell towers:
- a tower erected on the centre-line of
the main front
- free-standing bell towers (campanile)
- bell towers adjoining or incorporated
in a wall of the church
- bell towers within the perimeter of
the walls on the west side
- bell towers erected above the chancel
- so-called "open" bell towers - bell
gables (campanile a vela)
The church of St. Elias near Bale has its
bell-tower prominently located on the centre-line of the front
elevation. The walls of the tower are organically joined to the west
wall of the church up to the roof level, which is evidence that they
were erected at the same time. A flying buttress beneath the biforium is
supported by a dentellated corbel, which clearly dates the tower as
belonging to the 11th century.
Features of the free-standing bell-tower
or campanile are its solid structure, its height, the mainly
non-segmented carved decoration of its panels; the topmost storey is
pierced by Romanesque single or double embrasures, and the roof is
pyramidal or conical. Our example is the bell-tower of the parish church
in Bale, which has Romanesque features and semi-circular arched biforia
on the top storey. The concil apex to its tapering structure, stressing
its vertical dimension, is Gothic in character. These features would
suggest a date about the middle of the 14th century.
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Bell-tower annexed to side
wall S. George the "elder", Plomin. |
Bell-tower within church
perimeter S. Lawrence, Sv. Lovreč. |
A bell-tower annexed to a side wall or to the
front elevation has the same morphological characteristics as the free-standing
bell-tower or campanile. One example is the bell-tower of the Church of St.
George the Elder in Plomin. A bell-tower within the perimeter of the church on
the west side has the same formal features we encounter in the two preceding
types. The only example in Istria is the belfry of St. Lawrence's church in the
cemetery near Sutlovreč Pazenatički. Even this attribution is valid only up to a
point, for it may be matter of a later adaptation. The stylistic features of the
bell-tower are Romanesque-Gothic, and it might possibly be dated as
mid-fourteenth century.
Two special and unique forms of Istrian
bell-tower are:
- the bell-tower erected over the chancel of the church
- the so-called "open" bell-tower (bell gable - campanile a vela)
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Bell-tower of the Church of St.
George, between Završje and Grožnjan. |
The bell-tower above the chancel in St.
George's church located between Završje and Grožnjan is the sole example
of a bell-tower of this type in Istria. It was probably built in the
13th century above the south apse, from dressed stones arranged in
layers, and on a rectangular ground-plan. Halfway up it tapers gradually
towards the summit, it lacks decoration and segmentation and is closed
at the first floor level. The entrance to the tower is on the south
side, with an outside staircase leading to a door opening above the
crown of the apse. This type of bell-tower is not common in Italy, where
in fact it occurs very rarely, and the only example known to me is the
bell-tower of the abbey church in Summaga. In Slovenia, on the other
hand, in its northern part which is affiliated more to Austria and
Germany, there are number of examples of a similiar design. However, the
bell-tower over the southern apse of St. George's church between Završje
and Grožnjan is the result of a reductive process involving a bell-tower
above the chancel with its memorial shrine at ground level. When the
bell-tower is thus sited, the chancel acquires an external
distinguishing feature; this manner of erecting bell towers was current
from the 11th century onwards.
Bell gable (campanile a vela)
The bell-gable (campanile
a vela) is an architectural element crowning at the upper end of the
wall of church buildings, usually in lieu of a church tower. It consists of a
gable end in stone, with small hollow semi-circular arches where the church
bells are placed. It is a characteristic example of the simplicity of Romanesque
architecture.
The so-called "open" bell-tower is
probably from northern Italy: it is familiar to us from a fairly dilapidated
example - St. Thomas's church near Rovinj [not pictured]. At the northern end of
the north side of the church a square bell-tower rises up by the centre of the
wall. Its northern wall is pierced by a deep niche with a semi-circular arch,
while its uppermost floor has broad semicircular apertures. More or less in the
wider vicinity a similiar bell-tower may be found in the church of St. John the
Baptist in Treviso.
The bell gable usually rises over the front façade wall, but in some churches it
may be located on top of any other wall or even on top of the toral arch in the
midst of the roof. Sources:
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Photographs and first sentence - Daniela
Milotti Bertoni, Istria, Duecento Campanili Storici - Two Hundred
Historic Steeples, Bruno Fachin Editore (Trieste, 1997)
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Text - wikipedia.com
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Text (except first sentence) - Ministry of Science and
Technology, project 6-02-105 - Damir Demonja, "A note on Types of
Romanesque bell towers in Istria" -
https://www.mzos.hr/svibor/6/02/105/rad_cc_e.htm
Note:
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Bell gable: (arch.), a small
gable-shaped construction, pierced with one or more openings, and used to
contain bells; a small turret placed on the ridge of a church roof
(otherwise described as a portion of a wall that projects above the roof
line in the form of a gable) to hold one or more bells.
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