A sign of faith in the open sea: the early christian Church of St Mary on the Island of Kornat (Croatia)

The complex of the church and the tower called Tureta, located in the Tarac bay in the central part of the island of Kornat, represents one of the most remarkable sites of our Late Antique heritage. The church itself is nestled in a bay with a little harbor at the foot of the early Byzantine tower that dominates the typical landscape of Kornati for 1500 years. Until recently, it was known only for its highly preserved apse in the back of today’s late Medieval church, bearing witness to a remarkable skill of Dalmatian Late Antique builders. The entire site had its first systematic archaeological excavations during the last decade that have not yet been finalized, but today it is possible to bring out at least some preliminary conclusions and display its historical development as well as its significance among the island sites. Church complex, most likely developed on the remains of an ancient villa rustica, consisted of single-nave church and lateral chambers arranged in two rows. One of them was equipped with a piscina in the shape of a Greek cross, and the other probably served as a funerary chapel or memoria in one phase. Discovery of the baptistery in 2006 caused quite a surprise, considering the then interpretation of the church only as a station on the maritime route and a companion of the early Byzantine tower above it. However, today’s understanding of the church allows the identification of four successive phases of construction and its gradual expansion. This presentation brings the contemporary interpretation of the entire church complex and the arguments for the complexity of its spatial development, which is explained by the presence of the supposed nearby settlement protected by the tower, in the vicinity of the fertile field with the source of water. Special attention is paid to the remains of the altar screen traces preserved in the first layer of the plastered flooring in the sanctuary of the early Christian church. The arguments are presented according to which these are the only archaeologically confirmed traces of wooden liturgical instalations in the province of Dalmatia.