Baroque Adaptations in the Church of Our lady of Carmel in Trogir

Na mjestu srednjovjekovne crkve u 17. stoljeća podignuta je nova crkva koju su vjerojatno gradili članovi radionice Bokanić. Međutim, početkom druge polovine 18. stoljeća crkvu je, pretpostavlja se, radikalno preinačio Ignacije Macanović sa suradnicima.Church of Our Lady of Carmel is situated in a promi- nent locality – at the entrance to the suburb in Pasike. It was once called Our Lady of the Suburb or Our Lady of the New City (Sancta Maria de burgo, S. Maria di Città Nuova) and in the early 17th century it was dedicated to Our Lady of Carmel (Madonna del Carmine), with a Car- melite confraternity linked to it. e foundation stone for the rst church was laid on August 10, 1265, at the time of Bishop Koluban. Sancta Maria de burgo Tragurii is mentioned in various 18th-century documents. No traces of this rst medieval church have remained, apart from the knowledge about its location and the original dedi- cation. According to the manuscript of Chiese in Traù, the new church, built in place of the medieval one, was completed in 1618, which is also attested by an inscrip- tion on its façade. e same manuscript mentions that the original church had been small and narrow, which is why Count Domenico Mini (1596-1598) decreed on September 11, 1600 that it should be demolished in or- der to build a new one. e author argues that the present appearance of the church stems only from the beginning of the second half of the 18th century and probably results from an inter- vention directed by Ignacije Macanović. According to the visitation report of Bishop Didako Manola from 1756, the church was derelict and had to be renovated, which is why the bishop ordered the reconstruction works. e upper part of the façade, with its frame of arches/ curves with volutes above the corners, is almost identical with the façade of the former Healthcare O ce (O cium salutis) in Trogir, built by Ignacije Macanović shortly be- fore 1753, and so is the decorative manner of alternating longer and shorter sides of stones on the edges of the bel- fry. e stone globe attached to an iron spike on the façade of Our Lady of Carmel is analogous to the same motif in the cornice of the Healthcare O ce. Ignacije Macanović applied similar curved arches that end the semi-circular cornice in the parish church of Nerežišće on the island of Brač, where the semi-circular cornice is above the main nave, while the side naves feature concave curvatures. Fur- ther analogies include the façade of the un nished parish church of St George in Drvenik Veli near Trogir, tradition- ally believed to be work of Ignacije Macanović, and the façade of the parish church of Our Lady of Annunciation in Milna on the island of Brač, which ends with concave and convex curvatures, work of Ivan Macanović, Ignacije’s father, from 1733. e vase on top of Our Lady of Carmel in Trogir shows analogies with the vases-lamps on top of the façade of the parish church in Nerežišće, where Ivan and his son Ignacije worked together. One may therefore suppose that Ignacije Macanović and his assistants, in- cluding some who were his relatives, worked on the ba- roque adaptation of the church and belfry of Our Lady of Carmel in Trogir. It is not known whether Ignacije’s father Ivan, with whom he had built the parish church of Kaštel Šta lić, was still living at the time. at church, completed in 1775, likewise had large thermal windows, one in each of the sidewalls. Incorporation of a spolium – relief from a medieval sarcophagus – also points to the Macanović workshop, as they o en used spolia in their decorative projects. It has been observed that Ignacije Macanović preferred ancient spolia, but also used younger ones, not only as building material, but also as elements in new decorative arrange- ments with a sense for the semantic qualities of antiquity. Incorporating spolia so as to create a sort of pastiche is typical of Ignacije Macanović: thus, the apse of the parish church in Kaštel Šta lić contains an early Christian cross; in an economy building in the courtyard of the Garagnin palace in Trogir, pointed tops of Gothic windows were used to create baroque openings with curved frames; and a similar collage technique is also manifest at the Main- land Gate in Trogir, which features a Gothic statue of St John of Trogir