The Romanesque Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in Koprivna

U članku je prikazana graditeljska slojevitost izvorno romaničke, a naknadno barokizirane crkve Rođenja Presvete Bogorodice u selu Koprivna, nedaleko od Osijeka. Analizirani su netom otkriveni elementi romaničke arhitekture: ponajprije arhitektonski tip i izgled romaničke crkve, zatim južni portal, fresko ciklusi u svetištu i brodu crkve te tzv. gospodska ili zapadna empora na zapadnom zidu broda crkve. Crkva je datirana u vrijeme oko godine 1300. te stilski svrstana u razdoblje kasne romanike. Utvrđeno je da crkva pripada najraširenijem tipu romaničke arhitekture – koji karakterizira gotovo kvadratni brod te uže i niže svetište – raširenom na srednjoeuropskom području. Osobitost crkve u Koprivni je zapadna ili \u27gospodska\u27 empora te do danas sačuvano njezino stubište unutar sjevernog zida broda crkve.It is assumed that the originally Romanesque, but present–day baroque Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was built as the centre of the Dopsin estate that was owned by the Knights Hospitallers. The first historical sources, in which the toponym Koprivna is explicitly mentioned– the lists of the papal collection in 1332, 1333 and 1334– reveal that Koprivna was a parish at that time. In the mid–14th century, Koprivna was an integral part of the estate that was owned by the noble family Korogyi. Right before the Turkish occupation of Slavonia, the estates of the Korogyi family were assigned to the Perenyi through the right of succession. During the Ottoman period, the church was used by protestant Magyars. After the withdrawal of the Turks, it became part of the parish church of Saint Michael in Tvrđa for a short period of time, but already in the mid–18th century given to the orthodox settlers. Until today it has remained an orthodox church. With regard to the simplicity of its layout, resulting in an almost square nave and a narrow and low semi–circular sanctuary, and its modest dimensions– the church’s length is 13.62m and width 8.06 m– it belongs to the simplest and most common types of Romanesque architecture that is present in the entire area of central European architecture. The facades of the Romanesque church were also modest: only the nave’s southern facade had window openings and a porch, whereas the sanctuary was decorated by a row of blind arcades or pilaster strips. One of the characteristics of this type is the modest lighting of the Romanesque church in Koprivna: four narrow windows on the southern wall of the nave and two windows in the sanctuary. The Romanesque church had only one entrance on the southern side in form of a rectangular porch. The stone lunette of the porch was decorated by a fresco painting, of which only illegible fragments survived. The interior of the church was painted with a fresco cycle, but only fragments in the sanctuary and on the triumphal arch were preserved. Attempts of dating the frescos so far placed them into the second half of the 13th century, respectively at the turn of the 14th century, thereby emphasizing the Italo–Byzantine influences that were common for Italian painting at that time. Until today, the built staircase in the northern wall that leads to the choir on the western wall has been preserved. Formerly, it led to the space of the gallery for nobility or the west gallery. Through the discovery of the base of the gallery’s buttresses, it is assumed that four possible versions of this gallery could have existed: the gallery on the western wall, horseshoe–shaped gallery, L–shaped gallery and gallery that extended along the entire length of the nave, in this case it’s a question of a double church. The existence of a gallery for nobility within the Romanesque church in Koprivna places this church into the context of central–European architecture (which is also the region where this kind of gallery was the most common and spread one), respectively into the context of modest Romanesque churches with galleries on the western walls. Elements of ecclesiastical architecture that indicate to the late Romanesque period as the time of the church’s construction are primarily the gallery for nobility– which was introduced in churches in Hungary, but also in the continental part of Croatia at the turn of the 13th century– and the fresco cycle in the sanctuary, which is dated to the turn of the 14th century for now. Additionally, the proportion of the church itself, which was built according to the golden ration, is proof that the church was constructed within the late Romanesque period. By dating the Romanesque church in Koprivna around 1300, i.e. into the time when the Gothic style appeared together with the accession of the Anjou dynasty to the Croatian–Hungarian throne, this church should be considered as an expression of Romanesque style that was fading away. Its peculiarity is therefore not only represented by its well–preserved Romanesque layer, but also by the fact that the church was constructed at the peak of the Romanesque period. In this regard it represents a certain climax within the typological group, whose stylistic feature, such as the simplicity of the layout and the highlighted decorativeness, has continued as a tradition in these areas also during the Gothic period