Venecijanski identitet kulture i vizuelne kulture Boke Kotorske 1420-1797

Abstract

The Bay of Kotor, especially its eastern area, was an integral part of the Venetian Republic for almost four centuries. Documents and literary sources testify that citizens of the Bay accepted Venetian social and cultural norms, and create sense of belonging to the state which was approved and respected European model. The feeling of belonging to Venice formed a collective and individual identity of the inhabitants of the Bay. Social organization, the way of living, verbal and visual culture, were shaped in accordance with Venetian standards. The political ideology of Venice, personified in the image of the winged lion of St. Mark, to a large extent determined the character of the urban settlements of the Bay of Kotor. Even more powerful formative role had ceremonies and civic celebrations, directed by Venetian norms. The Bay of Kotor also accepts the main line of Venetian mythology, embodied in the maxim Venetia Vergine. Sacral and urban topography of the Bay of Kotor, and thus the identity and behavior of its inhabitants, were essentially determined by the identification of this region with the idea of the virgin state, i.e. well-organized and protected entity within the Venetian commonwealth. Belonging to Venice determined the behavioral and representational techniques of the inhabitants of the Bay, as attested by surviving portraits and other forms of verbal and visual culture.