Platy limestone
as cultural heritage

The project area covers various regions of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. This specific karstic area is a morphologically distinct geographical unit, where the relation between the nature of the rock and the landscape, the hydrogeological conditions, productivity and human settlements are particularly interlaced.

With this limestone modest yet beautiful living spaces were created. One of the key features of the coastal landscape are its buildings, which are built entirely of stone and are covered with slate roofs (Fig. 3.1). Limestone was also largely used to fashion several details such as eaves, gutters, pavements, cistern scarps, chimneys, benches, tables and more.

Since the Roman Period, and in some regions even since the later Prehistory, up until the early 20^th century, limestone was the dominant building material in secular architectures in both the cities as well as in rural areas.

Over the long and dynamic history of the Mediterranean limestone was the dominant building material, and one to which the Mediterranean owes its distinctive appearance, characteristic features and indeed life. It could be said that both the Eastern Adriatic coast and even the entire Mediterranean area are practically made entirely of stone. It was stone that enabled cultures to erect constructions in both urban and rural areas from the early Christian era up until the more aesthetically articulated 19^th and 20^th centuries. Entire coastal cities and villages as well as individual homesteads with outbuildings, barns, storage buildings, pasture fences, etc. in the hinterland and in island settlements were built of limestone. In fact the entire eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea is marked by the continuous use of limestone in construction.

Still today a great number of the most representative limestone buildings have been preserved, particularly churches within the historic nuclei of Eastern Adriatic towns, which are largely protected by conservation legislation.

From the earliest beginnings, during the late Neolithic and Eneolithic, Prehistoric peoples moved their settlements from flat fields to hill slopes, to peaceful, easily defended sites. These hill forts/settlements (castelliere, kaštelir, gradišče, gradina), like those from the Iron Age, were generally built on the tops of hills and encircled with large and high dry stone walls. The walls were planned in a circular configuration after the surrounding slopes and were built of irregularly-shaped stones. The most important settlements were fortified with more massive stone blocks.

One of the first known uses of platy limestone appears in burial mounds

One of the first known uses of platy limestone appears in burial mounds (tumuli or gomile). Burial chambers were located in the middle of tumuli, constructed with larger plates of platy limestone collected from the surroundings. These grave constructions, built of large platy limestone plates, were in use in these regions up until the Modern Age.

With the expansion of the Roman Empire the Roman urban pattern with its economic, administrative and religious centres also came to be defined on the Eastern Adriatic coast and hinterland. In these city centres whole buildings, together with the city’s corresponding infrastructures, were built of stone blocks or bricks and were usually covered with ceramic plates (tegulae). Consequently a number of quarries were opened along the coast to serve the building needs of Roman settlements in the area.

Long-term use of platy limestone represents one of the most significant characteristics of the Eastern Adriatic coast and its hinterland. In all karstic areas stones have gradually been cleared away in order to gain more cultivable land. Pieces of land were fenced off with dry walls ( suhozid, meje, ograde) built from larger stone slates, while smaller rocks were deposited in large piles known as griže, gromače, mocire or gomile/gromile (Fig. 3.2). This centuries-old process created a specific karstic landscape covered with a net of dry stone walls, with the landscape carefully crisscrossed with built dry stone walls as a consequence.

The roots of existing traditional stone buildings along the Eastern Adriatic coast can largely be traced back to the 9^th century, from which time many sacral buildings are still preserved. There are some also exceptions with far older roots, but in the majority of coastal Eastern Adriatic towns we can follow a process of continuous urban development built on the same fundament ever since the Carolingian period. Throughout the centuries that followed many other public buildings (churches, mosques, monasteries, fortresses, city walls and various profane architectural objects) were constructed of solid stone and still exist today. In the countryside, however, the rural stone architectures of peasants largely date back to the 16 ^th century and onwards.

With the 19^th century the practice of using platy limestone on roofs was replaced with the application of far lighter ceramic roof tiles, which also changed the slope of the roofs and gable roof objects with ceramic cover. Roof slopes became far more gradual than previous, when they were slanted at a 45-degree angle owing to the considerable weight of the stone cover. The main roofs of churches and homesteads were often replaced, but some additional building components like church apses (slo. apsida, cro. apsida, ital. abside) and belfries (slo. zvonik, cro.zvonik, ital. campanile) as well as small roofs on e.g. kitchen additions (slo. spahnjenca, cro. vatrenica, ital. spahnjenca” retained the old stone structure. Some outbuildings still have roofs covered with stone slates.

In the frame of Work Package 4 we have considered architectures built of stone and covered with roofs made of limestone plates. There are several technical terms that had to written in the Italian original and in the Slovenian and Croatian languages. Both Slavic languages use similar or sometimes even the same terms; oftentimes their roots originate in the German or Italian languages, as do the names for buildings (slo. hiša, cro. kuća, ital. casa, engl. house), parts of architectures (slo. dvokapna streha, cro. krov na dvije vode, ital. tetto a capanna, engl. gable roof) (Supplement 3.I, Annex 3.I.1) work tools (slo. dleto, cro. ćapadur, ital. scalpello, engl. chisel) (Supplement 3.I, Annex 3.I.2), etc.

The architectural terminology applied to the stone objects is also dealt with in the chapter covering quarries and delves

The architectural terminology applied to the stone objects is also dealt with in the chapter covering quarries and delves, where we apply certain terms for geological layers (slo. klif, cro. kuk, ital. scogliera, engl. cliff), types of quarries (slo. kamnolom, cro. kamenica, ital. jave, engl. small quarry), (slo. dleto, cro. ćapadur, ital. scalpello, engl. chisel), etc.

In the frame of WP4 the quarries in the Adriatic karstic area and their consequent impact on the development of the cultural landscape and on various crafts related to stone extraction were also investigated. The research was based on historical documents and fieldwork as well as on scientific and professional literature. We focused mainly on commonalities and on the regional specifics of the excavation, manufacture and use of platy limestone, on the presence and impact of the quarries on the life of the community through the centuries and their influence on the development of the landscape (see Annex 3.1; Map 3.3).

Several scientific disciplines deal with built stone architecture: archaeology, ethnography, art history and architecture. As a result countless written sources such as scientific and professional literatures, archival documents and reports are available. A comprehensive bibliography is included in the supplement (see Supplement 3.I, Annex 3.I.4).

In the past only two overviews of architectural heritage framed in comparison with other regions in the former Yugoslavia existed – by Jovan Cvijić and Aleksandar Freundenreich – who identified the first rural architectural typologies and examined these specific stone objects with stone slate roofs.

The use of platy limestone as a topic in the frame of historical use is developed with a particularly wide approach to address certain issues and define certain results: to what extent and in what roles do we still find platy limestone in historical stone buildings, especially as a roof covering; and what recommendations related to the proper use and maintenance of these specific stone objects can be made? Therefore one of the first and main tasks was to collect and treat the evidence related to such buildings in the region that corresponded to each partner of the project. The broad body of knowledge on the different uses of platy limestone and the status of its condition in the field was also formed against the backdrop of the heritage legislation in place in each region/country. Taking all of these topics into consideration we produced the Conservation Guidelines for Platy Limestone in Architectural Cultural Heritage, which should serve as both the starting point and as a guide for the proprietors and for the various respective heritage offices alike (Supplement 3.III).