Novalja's chest of power is an interesting story from Pag

Early Christian bronze chest reliquary cap represents a unique reliquary in Croatia. As we find out in Novalja on Pag, the Noval chest is one of only a few of its kind in the world. It was found in 1971 in the house of Vladimir Vidas during its renovation, and Anđelko Badurina wrote the most about the Ark of Power.

It is assumed that this interesting chest dates from 4th century, and it is lined with brass plates, dimensions 27,5x18x16,5 centimeters. It contains 32 fragments on which scenes from the New and Old Testament are inscribed. There is also an interesting sequence: two wild cats, five deer, 7 trees and vines.

What was newly discovered is the depiction of Moses breaking water out of the rock, the call of Moses, the depiction of Noah in the ark, Daniel in the lion's den, and Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Depictions of New Testament scenes come from John's Gospel. They represent the multiplication of bread or the miracle at Cana, the resurrection of Lazarus, the appearance of the Good Shepherd, Mary Orans and the healing of the blind man.

The topics are not classified according to biblical chronology, but are related to the cult of martyrs. It is assumed to date from the middle of the 4th century. It was an era when Christianity was free and when the cult of martyrs was extremely revered. Apparently, this specimen was created in the Hellenistic East 363 years ago when the city of Novalja was destroyed by an earthquake.

Novaljssa power chest
photo: TZ Novalja

The rebirth of the Novalja reliquary was marked on the occasion of the 186th birthday of the Zadar Archaeological Museum on November 30, 2018, under the title "Discovering the secrets of the chest from Novalja", where the latest knowledge about this Novalja reliquary was presented, during which a demonstration of the making of the chest was held.

This valuable piece of art is now kept in the Zadar Archaeological Museum and will be one of the new souvenirs when the chest is constructed according to the new proposals. The scientific project was approved by the Ministry of Science, Department of Art History with the partnership of the University of Maribor and the Zadar Archaeological Museum.

Photo source: Tourist Board of the City of Novalja

LAST RELEASES

Sign up for our newsletter

A weekly dose of the best tourist stories. The newsletter gives you an insight into the most important events and topics that were written about on the turistickeprice.hr portal

Your e-mail address will be safely stored and used only for the purpose of the site turistickeprice.hr and will not be forwarded to third parties.