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CROATIA
Baška Tablet
by Mate and Roko
Baška tablet (Croatian: Bašćanska ploča)
is one of the first monuments containing
an inscription in the Glagolitic language,
dating from the year 1100.
SIGNIFICANCE
HISTORY
The Baška tablet
was discovered by
scholars in 1851 in the paving of the
Church of St. Lucy, Jurandvor near Baška
on the island of Krk.Since 1934 the
original has been kept in the Croatian
Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb.
DIMENSIONS
It weighs about 800 kilos, it’s 99.5 cm
high, 199 cm wide, 7.5 to 9 cm thick and
its made of white limestone.
DESCRIPTION
The inscribed stone slab records King
Zvonimir’s donation of a piece of land to
a Benedictine abbey in the time of abbot
Držiha. The second half of the inscription
tells how Abbot Dobrovit built the church
along with nine monks. The inscription is
written in the Glagolitic script, exhibiting
features of Church Slavonic of Croatian
recession. It provides the only example of
transition from Glagolitic of the rounded
Macedonian type to the angular Croatian
alphabet.
The name Croatia and adjective Croatian
are mentioned on the tablet for the first
time in the Croatian language. Despite
the fact of not being the oldest Croatian
Glagolitic monument and in despite the
fact that it was not written in the pure
Croatian vernacular – it has nevertheless
been referred to as “the jewel of the
Croatian language “ and “the baptismal
certificate” of Croatian literary culture. It
features a vaguely damaged ornamental
string pattern, the Croatian interlace
(troplet).