THE OLD CITY OF VARAŽDIN GRANARY

U radu su prezentirani rezultati konzervatorsko-restauratorskih istraživanja građevine koja se nalazi u jugozapadnom kutu platoa nekadašnjeg županskog kastruma, prepoznate kao žitnica Celjskih u istočnom dijelu te oružana Varaždinskog generalata u zapadnom. Tijekom istraživanja je obrađena i analizirana objavljena literatura i dostupna arhivska građa. Prilikom terenskog rada korištene su metode vizualne analize te sondiranje građe, žbukanih slojeva i naliča. Osim konzervatorsko-restauratorskih, provedena su geofizička istraživanja te arheološko probno sondiranje na određenim lokacijama. Današnja se građevina nalazi unutar perimetra posjeda koji je od osnutka pripadao utvrđenom kraljevskom županskom kastrumu. Stoga se čini nemogućim da bi se unutar takvog posjeda moglo nalaziti imanje nekog građanina, što je jedan od argumenata starije historiografije za atribuciju nižeg dijela građevine žitnici Celjskih. Drugi argument se odnosi na kamene okvire prozora s gotičkom profilacijom, za koje su rezultati istraživanja u interijeru građevine nedvosmisleno pokazali da su bili naknadno ugrađeni. Provedena su istraživanja pokazala da se današnja građevina kroz dugo povijesno razdoblje sastojala od dvije, funkcionalno odvojene građevine. Istraživanja su rezultirala fragmentarnim nalazima koji upućuju na njihovu slojevitu građevinsku genezu. Najstariji sloj je zapadni dio kamenog južnog obrambenog bedema utvrde s puškarnicama koji je nastao najkasnije u drugoj polovici XV. stoljeća. Uslijedio je niz povijesnih adaptacija građevina u XVI. i XVIII. stoljeću, a današnji izgled je rezultat posljednje obnove, početkom XX. st. za potrebe smještaja arhiva. Problem točne ubikacije i izgleda tornja za barut, odnosno načina zatvaranja fortifikacijskog prstena varaždinske utvrde i povezivanja s varoškim utvrdama prije izgradnje del¢ Aglievih zemljanih bedema, na žalost ostaje neriješen.The paper presents the findings of conservation-restoration explorations of the building located in the south-western corner of the former county prefect’s castrum plateau, recognized as the granary of the counts of Celje in the eastern part, and the Varaždin general headquarters’ armoury in the western. During the explorations, the published references, as well as the available archival materials have been processed and analysed. During field work, methods of visual analysis and probing of the construction material, the plastered and paint layers have been used. Apart from conservation-restoration works, geophysical explorations were also undertaken, as well as the test archaeological probing on certain locations. The present building is located within the perimeter of the estate that had belonged, since its very foundation, to the fortified royal county prefect’s castrum. That is why it seems impossible that such an estate could hold within the property of a citizen, which is one of the arguments of older historiography for attributing the lower part of the building to the granary of the Counts of Celje. The other argument concerns the stone wall frames with gothic profiling, for which the exploration findings from the building’s interior have unequivocally shown that they were added at a later time. The explorations performed have shown that today’s building has, through a long historical period, consisted of two, functionally separated, buildings. The explorations have resulted in fragmentary findings pointing to their stratified building genesis. The oldest layer is the western part of the fortification’s southern stone defence wall with loop-holes, dating back to the second half of the 15th century at the latest. What followed was a number of historical building adaptations in the 16th and 18th centuries, while the present appearance is the result of the final renewal, performed towards the beginning of the 20th century for the needs of accommodating the archives. The problem of the exact powder tower location and appearance i.e. of the manner of closing the Varaždin’s fortress fortification ring and its linking to the surrounding fortifications before the construction of del’ Aglio’s earthen fortification walls, sadly, remains unresolved