Baptismal font of Prince Višeslav

The Baptismal font of Prince Višeslav is a medieval baptismal font of historical and cultural significance for Croatia. Its inscription mentions for the first time a duke called Višeslav.

Baptismal font of Prince Višeslav in Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments, Split, Croatia.

Drawing of the baptismal font (1889)

The font is considered an important cultural object and an example of application of Croatian interlace.

History

From the written report of the notary Ivan Sorari (1773–1847) from Zadar made in 1793, when the ruins of the Nin Baptistery were still visible in situ, as well as from the archaeological excavations in 1910 it is known that the baptistery had a four-leaf floor plan and a dome. In the middle of the baptistery was the baptismal font, to which one had to descend five steps. In 1742 the baptistery (last used for burials) was demolished and the baptismal font was removed in order to expand the cathedral's sacristy.

In 1853 the font was found in Capuchin monastery of Il Redentore in Venice and afterwards exhibited at Museo Correr.

In the 19th century, the baptismal font was believed to have been most likely created after the establishment of the Diocese of Nin (ca. 864–867), but no later than the end of 10th century AD. This was during the period of Christianization of the Croats.

At the time, it was also believed that the original place of the baptismal font had been in the Baptistery (Chapel of Saint John the Baptist) near the Cathedral of Nin. Nin was the first residence of Croatian-Dalmatian rulers.

In 1942 the Kingdom of Italy gifted the baptismal font to its then political ally, the so-called Independent State of Croatia. From then on and long after the World War II, the font stood in the atrium of the Palace of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the state's capital, Zagreb.

20th-century Croatian historian Ljubo Karaman thought that it was "not too bold to assume that this very baptismal font was used for the baptism of Croatian rulers".

Today the font can be seen in the harbor city of Split, in the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments.

The association of the baptismal font and the Nin Cathedral is not considered to be clear, and its dating is also based on artistic or paleographic analyses by older Croatian historians, many of which have been discarded.

Form and measurements

The baptismal font was cut from a single marble block in the form of hexagon. In one of the side faces, there is an irregular opening (now closed), which was probable used to supply water to the font. The bottom has a round opening for water outflow. There are a few holes at the rim of the top opening that contain iron scraps. Possibly these are the remains of a fastening for a lid or a railing. They probably do not come from the time the font was created.

The font is 88 cm (35 in) high, the diameter of the opening is 136 cm (54 in), the inside depth is 76 cm (30 in) and the width of each side is approximately 70 cm (28 in).

Decoration

Each of the six sides, except the bottom one, is decorated on the left and on the right with tilted furrows, like a relief column wrapped in a cord with a simple base and a capital with two side volutes. These pillars have a simply profiled architrave, decorated only with plain molding.

On the front central side there is a relief cross styled like a processional cross. The top and both side arms of the cross each have two volutes, but the bottom arm does not. The body of the cross arms is filled with Croatian interlace. The bottom, longer arm of the cross stands on a leg, also filled with tilted furrows, as if wrapped in a cord, which tapers off.

Inscriptions

The architrave, which also forms the hem of the opening, has the Latin inscription:

+ HEC FONS NEMPE SVMIT INFIRMOS VT REDDAT

ILLVMINATOS · HIC EXPIANT SCELERA SVA QVOD

DE PRIMO SVMPSERVNT PARENTE · VT EFFICIANTV

R XPISTICOLE SALVBRITER CONFITENDO TRINVM PER

HENNE · HOC IOHANNES PRESBITER SVB TEMPORE VVISSAS

CLAVO DVCI OPVS BENE COMPOSVIT DEVOTE

On the fifth side of the font, i.e. under the fifth line of the above, one can read:

IN HONORE VIDELICET SANCTI

The six side bears the end of the inscription with two lines:

IOHANNIS BAPTISTE, VT INTERCEDAT PRO EO

CLIENTVLOQVE SVO

The inscription is done with regular rustic capitals and the height of the letters varies between 6.0 and 6.5 cm (2.4 and 2.6 in). The stonemason used many ligatures, contractions, suspensions, and abbreviation characters for TRINVM ("Trinity") and special characters for word part PER in the word PERHENNE ("eternal").

The inscription can be translated as follows:

This source receives the weak in order to return them as enlightened ones. Here they atone for the sins, passed upon them from the first father, so that they become followers of Christ, salutary testifying to the eternal Trinity. This work was beautifully made in humility by the priest John in the time of Prince Višeslav, in honor of St. John the Baptist, so that he could become his and his protégés' advocate.

The Catholic Church in Croatia considers the inscription to be a "shiny monument and symbol of the baptism of our Croatian ancestors".

Literature

• Der Taufstein des kroatischen Fürsten Višeslav aus dem Frühen Mittelalter (in German). Selbstverlag des Deutschen Instituts für merowingisch-karolingische Kunstforschung in Erlangen. 1959.
• Namentragende Steininschriften in Jugoslawien vom Ende des 7. bis zur Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Glossar zur frühmittelalterlichen Geschichte im östlichen Europa: Beihefte (in German). Franz Steiner Verlag. 1982. ISBN 978-3-515-03873-7.