Ars & Humanitas (Jul 2017)
From a Hypothesis on the Development of the Layout of Poklek Manor in Zagorska Sela, towards a hitherto Unknown Type of Residential Architecture in Continental Croatia
Abstract
The hypothesis about the development of Poklek Manor House’s ground-plan presented in this paper is based on research into its façade, while the three-storey core consists of a square room and a narrow corridor with a staircase built inside the wall. The identical layout can be discerned in the ground-plans of numerous baroque buildings in the countryside or in urban areas of north-western Croatia. During a recent inspection in the field, as well as through research into some of the more complex structures, enough elements have been identified that point to a previously unknown form of spatial organization. This assumption is further reinforced by the historical illustrations of the buildings with typical ground plans, as well as by the independent conclusions of other researchers. Such a methodological approach proved to be the only possible one, since at present it is quite certain that the proposed hypothesis cannot be validated by focused and systematic research on an adequately large sample. The conclusions set out in this paper should thus be taken as an initial set of guidelines for future research, primarily conservation-restoration and archaeological studies, that aim to expand and systematize the scientific assessment of the typology and genesis of residential architecture within what may be significantly wider geographic area. It is concluded that the term curia refers to exactly those spatial cores from the second half of the 16th century. The owners were members of the small nobility and clergy, but also aristocrats, and these curiæ represent the simplest category of feudal architecture in continental Croatia at the beginning of the early modern period, while the elemental nature of the spatial organization points to their earlier origin.
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