Towers over Time

Ana Plosnić Škarić (Richard Krautheimer Fellow)

Residential compounds with private courtyards protected by towers were among the most prominent features of the urban fabric during the Middle Ages. These compounds were built in cities with origins in Roman Antiquity (where their relationship with the inherited urban layout and buildings is of significant interest) and those founded and expanded during the Middle Ages. As a result of the changes in the urban fabric, the towers are often the only remaining structures of the lost compounds.
The research aims to reveal the lost forms of these residential complexes, understand their owners’ aspirations, and how these aspirations were implemented within contemporary political and social contexts. The study relies first on information preserved from all critically analysed visual and textual sources covering all periods and second on an understanding of all the changes that occurred over centuries. To this end, a model is being developed for collecting, structuring, and interpreting this information using digital tools (GIS). The challenge is to identify the similarities and differences in the formation and modification of compounds in cities on both sides of the Adriatic and their impact on contemporary urban layouts.