The Great Market

Style period: renaissance

Century: 16 A.D.


The Great Market or Platea Magna, as it is mentioned in the resources, represents the main square in Krk. The square was mentioned for the first time in 1263. In the Middle Ages, the great market was the centre of administrative life of the city. This is where the city hall and two city loggias were situated.

The provisions by the provveditore Vinciguerra from 1489 ordered the performance of works on the western part of the walls where a large square tower, the Torrion, was erected, with a southern entrance from the harbour and a passage towards the city square, Piazza, from where one could enter the city hall, which probably had a courtroom (Camera de Pegni) on the first floor. In front of the courthouse, there was the city loggia. The resources often mention the court table which was situated in the loggia. Besides hearings, loggia was the place for announcing decrees, making contracts and other business. In Renaissance, this is where all commercial activities took place. Vinciguerra ordered the construction of the district cistern enclosed with a stone wall on the square.

For a long time, it was believed that this was the place of the ancient Forum based on the continuity. However, that theory was refuted by the latest archaeological research which found an ancient wall in the direction north-south, which greatly reduces the modern dimensions of the square insufficient for the existence of the ancient forum. Besides the ancient walls, the same research discovered the church of St Stephen which could date back to the pre-Romanesque period. The church of St Stephen was torn down after Vinciguerra’s regulation of the square at the end of the 15th century.

 

Bibliography:

  • Bolonić, Mihovil, Žic-Rokov, Ivan, Otok Krk kroz vjekove, Kršćanska sadašnjost, Zagreb, 1977.

 

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