MATERIJALNI OSTATCI BRODOLOMA IZ XVI., XVII. I XVIII. STOLJEĆA U KULTURNOJ BAŠTINI ŠIREGA DUBROVAČKOG KRAJA.

Figureheads and altarpieces represent a special category of our cultural legacy in the wider area of Dubrovnik. The most significant example is a 16th century statue dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary from the Parish church in Blato. This Renaissance statue was a figurehead on the vessel, i.e. the decoration below the bowsprit which was discovered on the seashore at the end of the 16th century. As a result a small chapel was erected on the discovery site. In the mid 18th century an emerald set of earrings with a cross unique of its kind in these Croatian parts were donated to this statue, most probably a piece of jewellery belonging to the Spanish goldsmith's trade of the late 16th or the early 17th centuries; the item in question was Franjo (Franko) Telenta's gift, according to the notarial records compiled on 12th August, 1752. This resident of Blato virtually stated that he made his votive offering upon his return from America (nel suo regresso d’America). The 15th century alabaster polyptych from Nottingham from the church of St James in Čara was found on the seashore some time later when the vessel shipwrecked in the 17th century. Material remains of the wreck were most frequently altarpieces with ship portraiture and some examples from Viganj (17th cent.), Podgorje (15th c.), Orašac (16th c.) and Perast will be analysed. These remains will be studied in the context of the vast number of shipwrecks which occurred at the end of the 18th and the beginning of 19th century in the wider area of Dubrovnik. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]