Critical Archive of the Visual and Related Arts
Unknown Artists: Roman
5th-century
Zadar, Croatia: Ulica Dalmatinskog Sabora 7
55%
Church of Saint Andrew and Saint Peter the Elder. 5th century and 9th century (with Unknown Artists (Croatian))
This church (now a tchotchke shop) was constructed in two phases, first by Romans in the 5th century and then by Croats in the 9th. The Roman section is of historical, though not artistic interest. The Croatian section, which is chronologically pre-Romanesque but is (as scholars have pointed out) a typological curiosity, is aesthetically compelling, though in a more minor and less complete way than most contemporaneous Croatian churches. The mess of arch and nested apse, all supported improbably by that one central pillar, is musical (albeit disordered). Were this cacophony to have extended to the church's exterior, we might have had on our hands a compelling sculpture in the vein of other similar buildings. Unfortunately, it's all squared in, leaving the energy produced by all these portals and resulting forms to sort of ricochet but never settle into a definite idea. Curious, though not masterful. (TFS, 2025)