Koper Walls

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Discovering the Lost Remains of the Late-Antiquity Koper Inner City Walls

Darko Likar, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture, Sl - 1000, Zoisova 12, Ljubljana,

Slovenia.

e-mail: [email protected]

Translation: Aleksander Jankovi Potonik and Mateja Perpar

Summary

The aim of this research is to answer the question whether or not the remains of the Koper 1 city

walls that were discovered by means of measurement analysis are indeed the remains of the Late-

Antiquity city walls, which had been unsuccessfully sought after ever since Kendler in 1858

published his thesis about the triple Koper City walls.

To answer this question we first carried out three preliminary researches. Even though the

prevailing public opinion was that the outer city walls had been demolished in the 19th century,our first research showed that the walls have in great part been preserved within the present city

structure. The second research established the location of the inner city walls. It has been proved

by archival documents citing seven chapels constructed on the arches of the city gates. The third

investigation was focused on the indications of the existence of a passable towerlike fortification

within the city walls in the section of the walls between the two city gates. It was based on the

use of architectural records, measurement analysis and on the finding of two loopholes which

1 The city of Koper - Capodistria lies on the northern shore of the Adriatic Sea in the province of Istra (Istria). Until1920 this old capital of the Istrian province, called also "The Istrian Athens", was an island. The first to colonise itwere the Greeks. They called it Aegida. Aegida was conquered by the Romans in 177 BC and renamed Capris. In the6th century, during the Byzantine rule, the town was called Justinopolis in honour of the emperor Justinian II. In1210 the patriarch of Aquileia named the town Caput Histriae. Between 1279 and 1797 Koper was under Venetianadministration. Napoleon's rule (1805-1813) was followed by the administrations of the Austrian and later Austria-Hungary Empire until 1918, the kingdom of Italy until 1945 and Yugoslavia until 1991. Since 1991, Koper is a partof Slovenia.



defined the location of the long sought-after city walls.

This was the starting point of the research of the southern face of Sabinijeva Street (Sabinijeva

ulica), where we found the characteristic cross-section of the city walls and its segment with

filled-in loopholes which now functions as a garden wall. As a result of a detailed examination of

the wall structure and previously inaccessible private surfaces of garden walls, we established a

timeline of specific forms of architectural structures, characteristic of the period of transition

from Late-Antiquity to the Middle Ages period. During the research we uncovered solid enough

pieces of evidence which, combined with the three initial researches, confirm the hypothesis of

the discovery of the Late-Antiquity city walls of the city of Koper.

The results of the preliminary research with the acquired material offer a good starting point for a

detailed multi-disciplinary research. The discovery of the ancient Koper City walls with different

development phases in the area between Nova vrata (The New Gate) and Pretorska vrata (The

Praetor Gate) is very significant, since it enables researchers to further uncover the so far rarely

preserved material evidence of the key historic developments during the period of great

migrations of peoples, and the manner in which the contemporary cities responded to the newlyoccurring threat, which the then residents had not yet realized was to become a permanent one.

Key words:

Ancient Koper City walls, uncovered material reminds, Late-Antiquity city walls

Foreword

The main reason for this study was the unexpected uncovering of the structures which positively

confirmed our hypothesis that Mediterranean cultures have, due to the restricted energy sources

and harsh conditions, in the areas of stone-built settlements, better preserved heritage architecture

than perceived by present-day experts due to their viewpoint based on changed social conditions.

In the city which considered its city walls to have been demolished, we have proved our



hypothesis of rational spatial interventions of our ancestors, who would not carry out unnecessary

demolishing of healthy constructions but would rather incorporate them as an integral part of

changed objects. That is why archetypical designs have been preserved in old city structures up

until the modern period, the very time that is now erasing them unscrupulously. After

establishing the architectural methodology for an advanced perceiving of space and the

confirmation of usable applications at the uncovering of important vanishing heritage there

followed a chain of successful, interrelated researches that in turn opened new revelations and

researches related to them. As we started to verify the hypothesis of the preserved passable

fortification (tower) of the inner walls by the measuring of ruins in the field, we arrived, owing to

the measurement analysis, to an unexpected discovery of material remains of the missing walls.

This discovery was the main reason why the undertaking of this research became a priority.

While the passage between the two streets will probably endure, the remains of the old city walls

are to be consumed by the construction of a new object.

Summary

While researching the outer city walls in Koper we came across some indications of the existence

of the older inner city walls. Nothing had been known about these walls except Kendler'shypothesis from 1858, which states that there existed three city walls (itko, 2008, 119) and

Smole's version of this thesis from 1975 (Smole, 1957). In the translation of the Church

Chronicles by the Bishop Naldini of 1700 we found a description of churches built above the

arches of the old city gates. This historic source confirmed our indications and gave us reliable

initial evidence that the presumed remains of the three gates in the field were indeed ancient city

gates.

We continued by researching the seven Koper churches above the arches of the ancient city gates.

The remains of three churches can still be observed at the site as well as the remains of the old

Field city gates in Piran which are, of all the eleven such gates once existing in Istria and on the

Istrian Coast, the single one materially completely preserved. This research enabled us to prove



the approximate location of the city walls between the seven city gates and to reconstruct in

rough contours their architectural appearance on the basis of analogy with the Field city gates in

Piran and some modest remains in Koper itself. Thus this research opened new possibilities of

searching for some hidden material remains of the fortifications at the site.

In the section between the Praetor Gate (Pretorska vrata) and New Gate (Nova vrata) there is a

passage with a ramp and a stairway connecting two streets at a different level and some remains

of a passable building demolished in 1965, through which the stairway used to pass.

Two depictions of the aforementioned passable building exist, one from 1906 and another from

1964, depicting two development phases of the object. In these depictions we recognized three

obvious elements of the fortified passage: the elevated entrance into the object, the access along

the ramp and the defensive character of the wooden balcony. These indications prompted us to

begin the research of the preserved remains by measurements in the field.

Two conclusions were drawn from the measurement analysis of architectural records: the remains

of garden walls above the street pavement are in fact the remains of the city wall breastworks andthe present garden scarp consists of the remains of the body of the city walls while the remnants

of the passable objects are in fact the remains of the former fortified pedestrian passage through

the ancient city walls. In this fortification three types of the wall structure can be recognized:

Gothic, Romanesque and an older, Pre-Romanesque one.

When connected to old Pre-Romanesque structure, the findings achieved through measurements

directed us into a more detailed research of the visible structures of buildings in Sabinijeva Street

and, after the finding of two loopholes, also into a more detailed research of the remnants of the

ancient city walls. The results of this research are presented in this text.

At the same time we concluded the research of the former passable fortification, which used to



protrude from the line of the city walls as a defence tower.

Since they revealed some material remains of the ancient city walls that were so far unknown, the

two researches are extremely important as a starting point for further interdisciplinary researches.

They indicate a very plausible possibility that in Sabinijeva Street we came across a rare material

record of the history of the transitional period between the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages -

or of the period of the great migration of peoples to the west into Padania.

Introduction

As recently as one year ago it was generally believed that the Koper City walls had been

demolished in the 19th century. This opinion was strengthened by early researchers such as

Caprin, who in 1905 wrote in the conclusion of his article about Levji grad (Lion¶s Castle) and

Koper City walls that after the disbanding of the Venetian Republic the city walls rapidly

deteriorated to the extent that in 1850 they were already virtually nonexistent, except for some

rare visible remains such as the Muda city gate. This opinion was resumed by all the authors that

were describing the city walls of Koper in the following periods (Caprin, 1905, 108).

On the basis of incidental findings during different construction interventions in the city space,

observed through a prolonged period of time, we came to the conclusion that the presumption the

city walls had been demolished was not correct. We formed a working hypothesis that the

prevailing quantity of the former city walls had been in different forms incorporated into the city

structure. We began to study the phenomenon of the city walls and on the basis of the topography

of different forms of remains we produced a map of the state of the preservation of the walls. The

result presented on the map confirms our working hypothesis about the preservation of the

prevailing portion of the outer walls.

Some intense interventions into the city space, which started a couple of years ago, confirmed our

presumptions. Findings in the field proved right our hypothetical forecasts about the location of



the walls and its fortifications thus proving the hypothesis itself.

Last year we published the results of the findings of our research (Likar, 2009 B).

While researching the outer city walls we came across some remnants of the inner walls. As

opposed to the outer one, which was plentifully documented in the archival sources, only some

rare and vague hints were noted, but no solid archival evidence was available to confirm the

existence of the inner city walls.

In the field there exist some barely visible remains of the three city gates, which in reality existed

as late as at the beginning of the 19th century, as proved by the survey register of 1818 (DAT, 1)

and 1819 (DAT, 2). Also, on the oldest town map, made in 1619 by Fini, we can notice some

indications in symbolic form of seven city gates (ASV, 1). However, we had no archival sources

to confirm the thesis that these were indeed the remains of the city gates. So we were unable to

convincingly prove the existence of the inner city walls.

The progress was made by the acquisition of the translation of the book by Bishop Paolo Naldini,

Church Chronicles or a Description of the City and the Bishoprice of Justinopolis, commonlycalled Koper (Cerkveni krajepis ali opis mesta in kofije Justinopolis ljudsko Koper) from 1700.

In it there was a description of Koper churches, organised in a system of twelve city

neighbourhoods, named after twelve city gates, and a description of seven churches standing on

the arches of the old city gates (Naldini, 2001). We thus found a leverage point for the reliable

proof of the location of the older inner city walls along the edge of the terrace above the city

break.

Poljska vrata (The Field Gate) is the best-preserved piece of architecture of the city gate with the

former church built above the arch of the city gate in the entire Istria. By researching them we



were able to prove the mode of transformation of the original form of the ancient city gate from

the passable tower into the city gate with church above them2.

The discovery of the rough layout of the forgotten city walls between the seven city gates

prompted us to begin with a systematic research of detailed indications at the city break and

check up anew the archival sources. Our attention was drawn to a graphics of a Gothic house

with a stairway passage connecting two parallel streets along the city break, dating from 1905

(Caprin, 1905, 282), and the last photograph of that house taken shortly before its partial

demolishing in 1964 (Bernik, 1968, 88). On the graphics three elements are discernible,

characteristic of fortification architecture (the passage on the city break, the elevated entrance to

the passage, the inclination leading to the entrance and a wooden balcony in defensive position

over the entrance). Since they are linked to two definite signs of the presence of the city walls (an

about 6m high ledge of the city break and the location between the two former city gates), we

considered it well-founded to start a preliminary research and measurements of the remains of the

house on the site.

After producing an architectural record and carrying out measurement analysis and after thecomparison with other fortification architecture in Istria, it became clear that we had discovered

the so far unsuccessfully searched-for remnants of the inner city walls and a fortified passage by

the former defence tower. On this basis we began to systematically examine and check up by

means of measurements all visible architecture of the city block, accessible from the public areas.

2 According to Caprin twelve churches above the city gates existed in Istria: two in Piran (Pirano) and in Izola(Isola), one in Labin and in Novi Grad and six in Koper (Caprin, 1905, 172). In our research "Arhitektura cerkvanad mestnimi vrati notranjega obzidja v Kopru in oratorija sv. Jakoba nad Poljskimi vrati v Piranu" (TheArchitecture of Churches Above City Gates of The Inner City Walls of Koper and St. Jakob's Oratory abovethe Field Gate in Piran)" we found evidence of the existence of yet another church above the city gate of Koper,which means that in Istria there were actually thirteen churches above the city gates (Likar, 2010). The results of thisresearch were handed in as an article at the end of last year and will be published in this year's issue of the scientificmagazine Annales.



While examining the stonemasonry of the visible structure of the walls with measurements

correlating to the upper part of the founded city walls - breastwork 3, we found two walled-in and

hardly discernible loopholes, whose measurements correspond to the typology of the previously

found loopholes in the northern part of the city walls.

The research about the passable fortification on the ancient city walls was brought to the

concluding phase and is to be published soon. However, there is a topic that was left uncovered

by that research - the structure of the walls from different periods. While the Romanesque and

Gothic structure are clearly recognizable, the third and the oldest one remained unexplained4.

Since we discovered the profile of the old walls and two presumed loopholes, which still needed

to be proved, and undefinable construction structure of the pre-Romanesque period, we started to

systematically examine walls in the section of Sabinijeva Street between the so-called New Gates

(Nova vrata) and Praetor Gates (Pretorska vrata).

The preliminary research has definitely proved t he finding of t he inner city walls and confirmed

t he h ypot hesis of t he existence of t he fortification designed to control t he pedestrian passage

t hroug h t he city walls into t he city.

The question of the dating of both findings of the walls as well as of the passable fortification in

the earlier period of the development of fortifications still remains open.

While the finding of material remains of the previously unsuccessfully searched-for Late-

Antiquity city walls and the unexpected possibility of the discovery of the fortification from a

later period are very important themselves, they also indicate that the area of the walls between

3 The upper structure built on the wall crown to protect the defenders from enemy projectiles.4 The oldest walls with a structure different from others are preserved in the body of the walls and in the side walls of the passable fortifications protruding from the line of the walls, while the Romanesque and Gothic walls are to befound in the front wall of this fortification.



the New Gate and the Praetor Gate is crucial for the understanding of the developments in the

area of Istria during the transition period between the Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

This presumption is based on the changes of the structure of the same wall of the city walls. The

structure is transformed from the older settled stonemasonry to an irregular improvised one and

again into an organized one which indicates a broader engagement of the community and a

complex structure of society. The presumption will be possible to either prove or dismiss only by

a sophisticated systematic and multidisciplinary research of the area and archeological probing in

the future.

The article continues with the presentation of the research and uncovering of the inner city walls

and passable fortification within these walls.

Material and Methods

In the chapter Materials we explained what we have done to answer the question posed in the

introduction ± whether or not we have really found the so far unknown location of the material

remains of the inner city walls of Koper and how we proved our hypothesis.

At the onset of the research there existed only our indications from previous researches and some

rare sources. Kandler (1858) speculates about the existence of three Koper walls (itko, 2008,

119), equally Smole, who even dates the existence of the second walls (Smole, 1957, 26); while

conservator M. Guek gives the city break as a most likely location of the presumed older city

walls (Guek, 2000, 24).

Smole and Guek also concluded that in case the inner city walls were found they would either be

Late-Antiquity or early Middle Ages walls (Smole, 1957, 26; Guek, 2000, 24).

In our two previous researches we proved the exact course of the outer walls (Likar, 2009 B) and

the orientational course of the inner walls along the seven city doors located in the field (Likar,



2009 B; Likar, 2010). At the presumed location of the section of the walls between the New Gate

and the Praetor Gate there existed indications of two fortifications. While researching at the site

the passable fortification in 2009, we arrived, using measurement analysis, to the finding of the

city wall profile and began a new research.

The discovered section of the walls is located between the two city gates (diagram. 1, 5), on the

city break. By the wall a passable fortification was found, located about 40m from the city gates

(the distance identical to the towers of the Piran City walls). In front of the walls Romanesque

houses were built, leaning onto the walls5. When Venice invaded Koper in 1278, these walls had

already been forgotten since they are not mentioned in any Venetian sources (the correspondence

between Venetian and Koper authorities regarding the outer city walls) during the entire five-

hundred-years period of Venetian dominance.

To search for evidence the architectural-conservationist method was used. Apart from the already

known procedures and technologies this method also includes the architectural ability to read old

depictions of the historical and existing built structures of the environment, acquired during the

processes of planning and renovation.

Based on thus-acquired experiences a special methodology and an instrument for improvement of

the perception capacities were produced, called APIS (Likar, 2009 A). APIS is based on the

observation and production of spatial models by drawing-out. These are in turn used as a basis to

extract the essential designed components of the space which are by means of supplementing and

improving drawn from measurements upgraded in the presentation of the state and

reconstruction. The architectural result of such modeling is additionally proved by the correlation

of facts with the aid of graphics and other sources.

5 In the Romanesque period the houses were built in front of the city walls on the city break in such a way that thewall itself was used as the back wall of the newly constructed house, with having either the roof erected directly over it or extending it for an additional floor, which proves that by then its defensive role had already been abandoned.



For the needs of our research a cross-section of the profile of the walls with the defence corridor

was first measured and drawn. The southern façade of Sabinijeva Street was also measured and

drawn, including its most essential and for the research most relevant details (fig. 4). All the

phases of the research are lavishly documented with photographs, sketches, work drawings, scans

and test reconstructions.

According to the work plan the measurements and drawings of the street were followed by a

detailed analysis of the structure (carried out by the measurement method), of the construction

and of the architectural, spatial and designing concepts.

A detailed research of occurrences by the way of proofs, which represents the core of the article,

is presented in the chapter "Results and Discussion".

Methods

The basic method of this research is the architectural-conservationist descriptive method carried

out by observing, sketching, drawing and photographing of the existing state and by the

producing of reconstructions in the form of plans and spatial-design models of the past and present states.

The data for a descriptive study is collected by sketching, measurement, photographing and

drawing of architectural plans.

Another method is the historic method, comprising the collecting, critical analysis and study of

historic archival sources and documents from the architectural point of view, the study of the

remains of the past periods in the field and the organizing of findings according to chronological

sequences.

Architectural-conservationist methods of the research are based on a combination of descriptive



and historical methods and methods of planning and analysing of spatial forms by the aid of

modeling of depictions in reduced scale and its measurement defined relation to the enlarged

original.

Results

Even the results of measurements and drawing-out of the walls profile as well as the

measurement analysis are proving the finding of the missing remains of the Koper inner walls,

which are located in the southern side of Sabinijeva Street and lie along the terrace of the city

land break.

Figure 1

The scheme of Koper City walls with marked section of the investigated section in Sabinijeva

Street where its material remains were found. The section of the researched walls runs from Nova

vrata (The New Gate - recognizable as the passable tower above the street with the stairways) to

Pretorska vrata (The Praetor Gate) (Author: D. Likar, computer graphics: Z. Kenda, M.

Zupani.)

Apart from the technical data the walls are confirmed also by other evidence we shall present in

the following chapters.

The Cross-Section of the Walls

We discovered the first piece of evidence of finding the walls during the measurement and

production of architectural records of the remains of former object of the staircase passage

between the Kolarska Street and Sabinijeva Street. By measurement analysis, a characteristic

cross-section of the defence wall was established6. The body of the wall is at its lowest part, when

measured from the base to the wall-walk, 5.90 m tall (17 Venetian feet ± pedes/ 5.91 m , 1 pede í

6 In the cold-weapon period the wall consisted of the base, which ended as the foundation, the central part - the body- built above the base, and the crown with defence wall-walk with breastwork and loopholes.



0.3477 m). The lowest height of the breastwork above the wall-walk floor is 2.20 m, and a few

metres away 2.36 m. The breastwork is 50 cm thick (17 oncia ± 49,26 cm).

We can compare that to the Piran City wall where the body, from the base to the wall-walk floor,

is 4.90 m high (a little over 14 Venetian feet). The height of the breastwork above the wall-walk

floor is 2.43 m (7 Venetian feet), and the breastwork is 55 cm thick (19 Venetian inches ± 55 cm,

oncia 2.8978 cm).

The differences between the dimensions of the Piran and Koper City walls are surprisingly small

and can be attributed to changes of pavement heights through long periods of time.

Those minimal differences convinced us that we have found material remains of the city walls

and prompted us to conduct new researches related to the search of a certain wall in the southern

side of Sabinijeva Street.

The city walls found by measurement analysis depict a former shape of architecture. Today's

southern side of Sabinijeva Street was one wall breastwork, constructed above the wall itself,

which served for the protection of the defenders. In it there were built-in loopholes with axialdistance of 6.00 m ±7.00 m (4 Venetian paces, 6.95 m) between them. The present day Obzidna

ulica (Wall Street) served as a wall-walk. Today's Sabinijeva Street served as a wall-walk (the

defence corridor) as well. By the stairway passage, up to Kolarska Street it is 2.60 m wide.

Sabinijeva Street lies on the top of the ledge formed by the natural city break. If the breastwork is

built above the street pavement then the supporting wall under the street pavement level, which is

leaning on the front side of the city break terrace, represents the body of the wall. The base of the

wall blends into Kolarska Street.

FIGURE 2

The cross-section of the wall, arrived to by measurements of the section through the stairway

passage and by measurement analysis which gives us the calculated height of the wall. The



section shows the crown of the wall with the wall-walk (Obzidna ulica) and breastwork with

loopholes and the body of the wall with the base. (Author: D. Likar, computer graphics: M.

Zupani.)

The outer face of the walls which in the earlier periods opened into the public space is today

within privately owned gardens. Of the investigated part of the wall from these private gardens

only the upper part of the body and the crown of the wall (the breastwork) can be seen, while the

lower part and the base lie deep under the level of the gardens. From Sabinijeva Street only the

former crown of the wall can be seen. In it two filled-in loopholes were found.

Preservation of Walls with Visible Stonemasonry Structure

The entire face of Sabinijeva Street is 92.01 m long. The researched side of this street consists of

two houses with building extensions at the beginning, by the Ulica talcev Street in the length of

21.65 m, followed by garden walls, 2.84 m to 2.04 m high and 23.43 m long. These are followed

by a garden wall, 1.00 m high and 8.25 m long, which concludes at the entrance to the stairway

passage to Kolarska Street (1.50 m). Gardens fenced off by low concrete wall follow to the length

of 21.00 m. Sabinijeva Street is located at the junction with Gregorieva Street concluded bythree houses of the common length of 16.55 m, Sabinijeva Street 10, 10a and 12.

The houses on Sabinijeva Street 2, 4 (with an extension built later) and 12 (entire length of 29.27

m) have plastered façades. The visible stonemasonry structure of the street is 39.78 m long. Of

that there is a visible structure of the house 10 and 10a (length 14.43 m) and of the garden walls

in the length of 25.34 m.

For the preliminary research the façades with the visible structure in the length of 39.78 m were

the most important.

Wall Breastwork



In its entire height the wall breastwork is preserved in the visible structure in the length of 17.09

m. A part of that wall, 2.43 long, was demolished and built up anew when a doorway in the

garden wall was made. There is also a 8.25 m long section of the wall with the breastwork

preserved to the height of 1.00 m. So 14.66 metres of the old city walls are preserved altogether,

with basically identical structure (opus incertum), with the exception of the portion which was

recently rebuilt by re-laying the stones in order to remove the protrusion that was threatening the

stability of the wall. The neighbouring parts of the walls have fuses mortared with the surplus

mortar left after this intervention while the rest of the described section remained intact7.

We have located the first, barely discernible loophole between the repaired and the mortared

wall, while the second one is in the intact part of the wall.

Photo 1: A view of the preserved breastwork as seen from Sabinijeva Street. (Photo: D. Likar)

The Walls

We established the height of the walls in Sabinijeva Street in Koper, 5.90 m (17 Venetian feet

í5.899 m), while measuring the cross-section of the remains of the former house of the stairway passage between Kolarska Street and Sabinijeva Street. The measurement enabled us to recognize

the unexpected wall structure8. The passage represents the lowest part of the walls. Together with

the breastwork the wall here was 8.1 m high9 (5 paces ± 8.69 m) from base to the top of the wall

crown10. The walls are part of private gardens on the inner side of these gardens so systematic

measurements were not possible. However, we were able to inspect the other, frontal side of the

wall with loopholes. Today the city wall on the garden side measures 3.82 m and, measured near

the second loophole, reaches 1.30 metre under the level of the street pavement. As a garden wall

it stands freely - without objects that would lean on it. At the foot of that wall there is a paved

7 The preserved part of the breastwork has been thoroughly repaired a couple of times throughout the centuries.8 The common characteristic of all the previous findings of the wall sections in Koper was a more or less regular wallstructure.9 The height was determined by calculation. The actual height should be determined by an archeological probe.10 Without including the roof top.



floor of the garden yard.

The neighbouring atriums inside the gardens appear to be deeper 11.

Photo 2: Today, the former outer - frontal side of the walls is inside private gardens along

Sabinijeva Street. The remains of the wall have often been repaired throughout centuries.

(Photo: D. Likar)

Found Loopholes

In the investigated part of the wall two walled-in loopholes were found12. Nevertheless even at

the outset some hints that these had indeed been loopholes were clear: they are located in the

vicinity of the old city gates on the city break and could have been easily rebuilt into cellar

windows during the centuries of abandonment of the inner city walls. A simple illustrative piece

of data about the presumption that the inner city walls have not been used for a long time: Venice

conquered Koper in 1278 and held it for five centuries, yet in the entire period of Venetian

domination not a single archive note was recorded about the inner walls. Even though the

majority of the archival sources about the correspondence between the Venetian Senate andKoper mayors occasionally mention the question of fortifications and the constant need to repair

the outer walls, Venetian sources lack any reference to the inner walls.

The distance between Ulica talcev Street, where the city gates used to be (Nova vrata - The New

Gate), and the first loophole is 26.27 m or 4.45 m from the additional building to Sabinijeva

Street 4.

Photo 3: A view of the walled-in loophole, skillfully integrated into the structure of the garden

11 As we have calculated, the bottom of the wall must be 4.28 metres deep under the surface.12 When finding the two loopholes we were extremely cautious since any kind of building intervention in the longexistence of the walls could erase forever some fundamental evidence of the active defensive role of the locatedwalls.



wall. On the opposite side, inside the privately owned garden, the loophole is covered by a

stairway leaning to the wall. (Photo: D. Likar)

The axial distance from the first to the second loophole is 6.40 m.

The two loopholes, characteristic of Koper, are in the high garden wall, skillfully walled-in and

therefore barely discernible. The visible sides of loopholes lie on the inner side of the breastwork

and are separated at the top. The first is on both sides from the bottom to the base of the arch 1.12

and 1.13 m high and 1.25 m high, below the top of the arch 13. The width of the loophole arch is

1.10 m, while the loophole itself is 1.05 m wide. The second loophole is on both sides lower than

the first one and elevated from the ground to the base of the arch 0.96 m and 0.97 m, while the

distance to the top of the arch is 1.06 m. The two loopholes are set apart or organised along the

vertical lines of loopholes at a distance of 5.28 m.

Figure 3

The plan of the frontal façade of the walls with the two discovered loopholes.

(Author: D. Likar, computer graphics: M. Zupani.)

In the wall of the street we can notice inner, broadened openings of the loopholes, which gave the

defenders a broad angle of observation through the breastwork. On the outer side there was a 5-

cm-wide and 60-cm-high slot (the measurement analogy with the only four loopholes for cold

weapons found in the northern Koper City walls lined in the distances of 6.795, 6.768, 7.004 and

7.411 m).

Loopholes cannot be seen from the other side of the wall for two reasons. Even though the wall in

front of the loopholes has stood since the first register of 1818 (DAT, 1) without any objects

leaning onto it, there is a stairway in front of the first loophole. The other one has recently been

13 The arch is still distinguishable.



repaired in order to remove the deformation (bulging) of the wall, so only a portion of the vertical

edge can still be seen.

The last Venetian fortification inspector Polcenigo (Polcenigo, 1999, 269) says: "There are at

many places loopholes near the floor, almost everywhere at a proper distance from each other".

Owing to the discovery of the five successive loopholes in the wall in 2009 (four of them were

for cold weapons and one for a cannon), we have established what distance between the

loopholes was in the year 1700 considered "almost proper". Although Polcenigo talks about

loopholes in the outer city walls, our research shows that architectural elements of the inner

walls, planned for cold weapons, served as a model for the outer walls since the outer walls were

also built in the period of cold weapons, long before the Venetian occupation in 1278.

Low height of the loopholes can be partly attributed to changes of the level of pavement and also

to the direction of the field of view from the high position of the loophole in the walls towards the

outer ground below. However, Koper loopholes were lower also due to the short body

constitution of the former residents of Koper, something that can be deducted from both low-

laying windows and doors and from the so-far discovered loopholes in Koper and Piran.

Loopholes presented a challenge for us for quite some time because they were walled-in in the

structure of the wall and visible only to the most alert experts. Besides, they were accessible only

from the public area and subject to later reconstructions. Had they at any stage of their long

history been rebuilt in cellar openings it would have been impossible to prove their existence,

despite the fact that they are located on the city break between the two city gates (Pretorska vrata

± the Praetor Gate and Nova vrata ± the New Gate). We also wondered why were not able to

notice them earlier 14.

14 The locals did notice the arches, but were convinced that these were - despite their extremely low position - archesover former doors.



Once we were able to inspect the walls from the other side there was no doubt that we had indeed

found loopholes, since there are no traces of the openings of the equal width on the outer side of

the wall that would indicate cellar windows, even though the outer shape of loopholes is no

longer clearly visible.

Systematical research of the found loopholes by probing and of the remaining wall section in

Sabinijeva Street, which is hidden under plaster or in the structure of the reshaped openings will

confirm the conclusion that the loopholes remained unchanged since the Pre-Romanesque times.

The fact that Romanesqe houses lean on the walls in this street confirms the idea that the inner

walls had by then already been abandoned as the main defence line 15. The role of the former

inner defence line was gradually taken over by the newly built garden walls of the houses built in

front of the former wall and later by built-up blocks.

The analysis of the visible wall structures of the southern facade of Sabinijeva Street

By systematical research of the street side where material remains of the old city walls were

found by observation and measurements we can obtain additional information useful for the

research of the old walls.

We begin with the analysis of the type of stonemasonry at the remains of the Nova vrata (The

New Gate) city doors in the Ulica talcev Street and follow it by the number order of the houses in

Sabinijeva Street from 2 to 12. The length of the façade in Sabinijeva Street is 92.01 m (figure 4)

Figure 4:

The record of the facade of Sabinijeva Street with the analysis of different wall structure, with

drawn-in levels of pavements of Sabinijeva and Kolarska street and presumed underground

remains of the city walls. (Author: D. Likar, computer graphics: M. Zupani.)

15 The leaning of the Romanesque houses onto the wall proves the abandonment of the inner walls. However, the portion of the preserved city gates and the recently discovered passable fortification changed into Gothic shapesuggest that the walls retained their secret role well into the Middle Ages.



The ground plan of the New Gate is seen in the Franciscan cadastre of the year 1819 (DAT, 2),

while in the 1912 cadastre the gate is no longer registered (Kataster, 1912)16.

Figure 5

In the Franciscan cadastre of the year 1818 (DAT, 1 ± Archivio di Stato Trieste) two gates of the

inner city wall are still registered: the New Gate at the lot number 698 and the Praetorian Gate at

lots No 914 and 915. Along the section between the two gates on the steep geological break, two

fortifications protruding from the line of the wall are visible: the passable fortification (lot No

701) and the now demolished flanking fortification of the passage from Gregorieva Street to

Muev Square (lot No 184). The research deals in detail with the segment of the wall from Nova

vrata to the passage in Gregorieva Street because in this portion the line of the walls is noted in

the cadastre and accessible in the field. On the other hand the portion towards the Praetorian Gate

is hidden inside privately-owned spaces.

The plan depicts Nova vrata (The New Gate) in the form of a passable tower and stairway leading

into the church, built in "the first centuries" (from the point of view of the year 1700) above the

arches of the city gates (Naldini, 2001, 117).

Today, only very few remains of this gate are still visible in the lower part of the garden wall

which once supported the arch of the gate. From the remains as well as judging from the analogy

with the shape of the other two gates of the old Koper City walls and of the Poljska vrata gate in

Piran (which also lies within the older inner city walls) it is possible to discern a structure with

layers of regularly-chiseled sandstone blocks. The characteristic structure, linked to the

abovementioned analogies, speaks of the earliest origin of the structures in Sabinijeva Street. It is

followed by plastered façades of objects all the way to the garden walls.

16 Naldini draws special attention to the time of construction to stress the age of the door since the name itself can bemisleading - namely, this is an example of a new gate among the old ones. The residents of Koper gave the city gatein the old walls this name because the top part of the tower was rebuilt into a little church and because they were

built last.



The first part of the garden wall in the length of 2.43 m was demolished when the gate, made of

an old stone frame brought from elsewhere, was built in the wall and the surrounding area was

filled with small stones of irregular shapes and bricks.

This is followed by a 8.04 m-long wall with no signs of newer interventions. It is built of bigger

irregular stone layers, has unidentifiable stone structures (once called opus incertum) with a

tendency to horizontal layering. The building technique and composition suggest improvisation

of a hastily built wall. Stones as the main building material are of different kind of sandstone

gathered from everywhere. We can notice some tiny " spolije" - recognizable remains of former

buildings of limestone and gray Istrian stone. Naturally this wall has later on been renovated

many times. It was here that the first loophole was found. Since it was built of elements that were

not carved in quarries but rather gathered from any sources available, the researchers of Koper

fortifications never recognized it as part of the city walls.

A small part of the described wall had fuses mortared-in, which changed it appearance, but the

structure on the other side of the wall without the mortar still displays a uniform appearance. The

other, formerly outer side of the wall resembles the appearance of the city walls, even though the

stones deteriorated due to time and erosion17

. The described part of the wall ends in slightlyconcave break of Sabinijeva Street.

The break is followed by a 6.62 m-long wall of equal height as the former one, but of different

appearance due to the recent renovation. The second loophole was found at the spot where the

wall bends. Although the structure of the wall surface is the same as the structure of the previous

part, the appearance has been altered by means of re-laying of the part that was bulging. Due to

this repair the described section of the wall is partially degraded18.

From the end of the wall we can see 8.25m long and 1 m high remains of the house at Sabinijeva

17 Exceptionally old walls that were preserved within the city structure until this day have been repaired many timesand in many ways. Because of this only detailed specialist research can determine the original parts.18 The actual grade of degradation could be established only by a specialist study.



Street 6. Through the former house there was a perpendicularly oriented covered stairway

passage. Today some of the former rooms have been changed into vegetable gardens while the

stairway still serves its original purpose of connecting Sabinijeva with Kolarska Street, which lies

on the lower level. The structure of the remaining wall, which now serves as a garden fence, is

equal to the previous ones. In the first part of the wall by the street we can see a preserved

massive block (30 cm high and 1.837 long), which used to serve as a door post of the entrance

into the tower part of the house.

Two depictions of the southern façade of the former building at Sabinijeva Street 6 are preserved.

The first one is a graphic depiction from 1906 and the other a photograph of the same façade

from the year 1964 - a year before the demolition of the object. In these depictions of the Gothic

house we recognized three fortification elements: the elevated entrance, the access ramp and the

wooden balcony for the defence of the entrance, and began a detailed research of the remnants of

the former object by measuring the remains. While doing so we found, by means of the

measurement analysis, the city walls. This induced a new detailed preliminary research of the

hypothesis of the finding of the remains of the old Koper City walls, presented in this article.

The fencing wall - remnant of former Sabinijeva 6 house - ends in the passageway to the

stairway. The passageway is 1.50 m wide.

It is followed by a 21 m-long low concrete wall which fences off the gardens. On the site of

today's garden there used to be first a house, then the wall of the yard and finally another house.

We presume that the entire height of the city walls lies under the concrete wall since above the

wall there was only the wall crown or the breastwork. Today's gardens are a landfill of fertile soil

over the ruins of former houses.

The southern side of Sabinijeva Street ends with three houses: Sabinijeva 10 (9.61 m long), 10a

(4.83 m long) and 12 (7.71 m long).



The first house is two storeys high. Due to highly dilapidated plaster some typical Romanesque

stonemasonry with remnants of Romanesque elements, partially hidden by the plaster, can be

noticed at the first glance. Careful analysis showed that the lower part of the house used to be a

part of the city walls, discernible by the wall edge protruding from the wall for a couple of

centimeters and continuing in the neighbouring object.

However, the building structure differs significantly from the previously described structures,

with the exception of the New Gate (Nova vrata). The building is built in grey Istrian sandstone

chiseled into regular blocks laid in regular layers.

Sabinijeva Street 10a house has a ground floor build in the same structure as the previous one. In

this wall there are also visible traces of Romanesque building elements such as parts of the

doorway frame. Romanesque structure on the ground floor is 3.53 m high. In the upper storey the

building structure is Gothic, built with narrow bricks and other Gothic elements. On the freeze we

can also see some interesting wall paintings.

Sabinijeva 12 is plastered and highly reconstructed, but in the upper storey some minute, but

high-quality stonemasonry remains of Venetian Gothic ± gotika fiorita can be seen. In the

northern façade we can discern a joint element of the Gothic window and in the southern one a

highly decorated window seal.

Diagram 1:

The diagram represents the ratios of the lengths of different wall structures of the façades of the

southern side of Sabinijeva Street. Combined with the façade of the street and the cross-section of

the wall it gives an overview of the so far still unresearched structures under plasters and

potential remains of the body of the city walls under the land-fill in front of it. (Author: D. Likar,

computer graphics: D. Kenda.)



Summary of the Analysis of Visible Structures of the Walls of the Southern Sabinijeva

Street Façade.

At the beginning we were confused by different structures of the walls in the façades of

Sabinijeva Street within the presumed city walls belt, more so since we have in previous

researches established that the geometrically regular structure of the wall, made of regularly

shaped grey sandstone blocks, laid in leveled layers, is very old or can be recognized as typically

Romanesque and is, when compared to the first one, very late.

The outer Koper City walls are also built of regular stones. When observing the characteristic

structure in Sabinijeva Street an additional cause of confusion is the Gothic structure which can

take over the regular Romanesque build or has irregular build of irregularly quarried stones laid

in layers, or uses bricks in combination with the other two.

The research of the remains of the passable fortification of the former Sabinijeva Street 6, three basic structures were uncovered: a wall related to the city walls, two side walls protruding out of

the city walls and the wall of the stairway. The head wall was of regular build of Romanesque

origin, but with added irregular Gothic structure in front of it that would have been attributed to

later periods if the object had not been pulled down in 1965, in doubtlessly Gothic shape visible

on its last photo taken in 1964, shortly before the demolition19.

Sabinijeva Street has three structures as well: the regular older one, the irregular structure of the

old city walls and again a regular newer structure. The dilemma of the different build structures

of the street with the presumed city walls belt will be definitely cleared out only by means of

19 The old coating seen on the site in the preserved part of the wall proves that the ruin was not additionally coatedwith leveling wall.



additional multidisciplinary research.

Dating of the Remains of the City Walls

Very little is known about the inner city walls of the city of Koper since we can only rely on

presumptions and extremely rare sources. Even rarer are sources speculating about the period in

which it was built. Even the time of construction of the outer walls is unknown, even though the

archive sources describing it are rather common.

E. Smole dates the move of the second inner city walls back to the year 555 and the construction

of the outer wall, which followed the coast of the rocky island, to the time of the rule of

Patriarchs of Aquileia over Koper (Smole, 1957, 26).

G. Caprin writes that Koper, when it was enslaved by the Patriarchs and the need for bigger space

arose, destroyed the sacred doors and the walls surrounding it from the time of the Byzantine rule

(Caprin, 1905, 99; Bernik, 1968, 16).

M. Guek reintroduces Smole's presumption of the location of the former Late-Antiquity or early

Middle Ages walls on the city break, but stresses that unfortunately up to this day no material

remains of that walls have been found (Guek, 2000, 23í24).

In our article we present, with the aid of new facts and discoveries, the finding of the very city

walls for which M. Guek claims that unfortunately no material remains were discovered.

The results confirm the working hypothesis and the presumption about the Late-Antiquity city

walls on the city break.



Conclusion

Numerous arguments confirm that in Sabinijeva Street we have found the remains of the missing

inner Koper City walls.

Arguments serving as proofs are: the location between the old city gates, the supporting wall of

the city break, the wall by the passable fortification, loopholes on the breastwork, measurement

analysis (adequate heights of: the body of the walls up to the wall-walk and wall's crown and the

width of the breastwork, correct measures of the typical distances between the loopholes as well

as the loopholes themselves).

The age of the wall dating in Pre-Romanesque period is proved by Romanesque houses build in

front of the wall, which signal the abandoning of the fortification function of the wall itself. As an

additional proof we can cite the silence of all presently known sources and complete amnesia

about these walls after the Venetian occupation in 1278. Venetian sources would surely have

registered such an important asset as the inner city walls, unless it had already been abandoned

long before the time of the Venetian conquest.

We could not entirely rely on the historic data proving the safety of the city on the island after the

year 500 either. An example of such proof can be found in a report that two Patriarchs of

Aquileia found their refuge from Goths in the safety of the Koper island (Marcelin in the year

512 in Stephen around 520) or the extension of the city with new quarters towards the coast,

which was presumably reached in 528 (Naldini, 2001, 111).

In the presented characteristic of the built structures of the inner city walls we can recognize the

Late-Antiquity period.

The presumption is consistent with the generally-known historic developments in the area.



Koper is located in the vicinity of the corridor used by the main flows of the great migrations of

peoples while traversing the Julian Alps on their way to Friuli Plain and Apennine Peninsula.

After the onslaught of Marcomanns and Quadi (the second half of the 2nd century AD) The

hundred-years-long ceasefire pax Romana was interrupted. After two centuries of peace and

undisturbed development some antique cities, especially those along the route of the onslaught,

for the first time again faced the dangers of war and frantically started some defensive

preparations, including the repair of fortifications. During the prolonged period of peace the

maintenance of old city walls was poor or non-existent while the development or upgrading of

the former defensive system was entirely abandoned. For this reason the old defensive systems

were in a state of disrepair. The outbreak of great migrations of peoples triggered a fast

restoration of city fortifications while the old fortification building skills were lost.

In 4th century AD prolonged danger resulted in the systematic construction of a defensive system

of fortifications comprised of forts, enclosures and castles from the borders of Panonia to Noric

which controlled the main migration route towards the Italian Peninsula. This fortifications have

soon evolved into a real limes with permanent military crew called Apium vallum, Claustra

Apium Iuliarum20

.

In 452 the northern part of the Italian Peninsula was ravished by Atila. After gathering a large

number of followers and moving from Danubian Noric to Friuli, Odoaker in 476 deposed the last

Roman emperor and took over the reign. The Eastern Roman emperor engaged Theodoric, the

ruler of Ostrogoths, to depose Odoaker. After the defeat of Odoaker in 489, Theodoric

established his own state. In 537 Theodoric's minister Kasiodor in his letters described Istria as a

happy land and the granary of the royal city of Ravenna. Eighteen years later eastern Emperor

Justinian restored the Byzantine rule in Istria. After Justinian's death in 565 the rule was taken

20 A good illustration of the imminent danger for the city of Koper during the great migrations is the vicinity of theLate-Antiquity limes at Hruica only 48 kilometres away. The limes above Rijeka was 56 km away.



over by his son Justin II who ruled until 578. In this period Koper was renamed Justinopolis (or

Iustinopolis as is in a latinized version marked in Venetian archive sources, in the correspondence

between the senate and Koper's podestas)

According to Smole in 555 the oldest city walls were moved to the second wall. During the

ecclasiastical and secular rule of the Patriarchs of Aquileia over Koper, the conditions changed

notably. The growth of population due to the moving of local population to safety offered by the

city on the island resulted in overcrowding while the danger arising from great migrations of

peoples was persistent. All these forced the city to construct new city walls on the very edge of

the rocky island (Smole, 1957, 26).

The results of our research show that improvised renovation of the fortifications of the inner city

walls occurred in the early phase of the great migrations of peoples and confirm that the

construction of the new city walls at the edge of the island took place when the society began to

adapt to new conditions caused by the great migrations.

The preliminary research of the housing block in the area between Sabinijeva Street, KolarskaStreet, Ulica Talcev (where Nova vrata - the New Gate were) and Gregorieva Street showed

that this part of the city was much more important than had been assumed on the onset of the

research. In fact the research demonstrates that, if planned and carried out well, a systematic

research can uncover key information about the development which can in turn give answers

about the most important historic periods of the development of Koper, Piran and the entire Istria.

If we, due to some speculative construction development, forfeit the lucky circumstance that in a

relatively narrow space some exceptional remains from fundamental historic periods are

concentrated, a large amount of evidence, sought for by generations of researchers, will be lost

forever.

Acknowledgements



I would like to thank the Novak family for enabling me to inspect the walls from the privately

owned side and the residents of Sabinijeva Street for their patience during the measurements of

the façades of their street.

Summary

During the research of the outer city walls of the city of Koper we have come across some

indications about the older inner walls. Nothing had been known about it except for Kandler's

hypothesis about three Koper City walls from the year 1858 (itko, 2008, 119) and Smole's

version of this thesis from 1957 (Smole, 1957).

In the translation of the Church Chronicles by Bishop Naldini from 1700 we found the

description of churches above the arches of the old city gates. This historic source confirmed our

indications and offered reliable enough set-out proof that the presumed remains of the three gates

in the field were indeed former city gates.

This was followed by the research of seven Koper churches above the arches of the old gates, of

which some remains of three can still be seen in the field and of old Field city gates of Piran that

are the only entirely materially preserved of the eleven once existing gates along the Coast.

This research enabled us to prove the rough location of the inner walls between the seven city

gates and reconstruct in rough contours their architectural appearance on the basis of analogy

with the Field Gates in Piran and modest remains in Koper.

The research opened new possibilities for tracing hidden material remains of fortifications in the

field.



In the section between the Praetor Gate (Pretorska vrata) and the New Gate (Nova vrata) there is

a passage with the ramp and the stairway connecting two streets on the different levels and

remnants of the house demolished in 1965, through which the stairway used to run. Two

depictions of this passable building are preserved, from 1906 and 1964. Together they show two

phases of the development of the object. Three obvious elements of the fortified passage were

recognized in these depictions: an elevated entrance, access along the ramp and the defensive

design of the wooden balcony. These indications prompted us to begin the research of the

preserved remains by measurements in the field.

Measurement analysis of the architectural record gave two results: the remains of the garden

walls above the street pavements turned out to be remains of the breastwork and below the street

level the body of the city walls while the remains of the former passable object are former

fortified pedestrian passage through the old city walls.

In the fortification there are three recognizable structures of the walls: Gothic, Romanesque and

older Pre-Romanesque structure.

The finding of city walls through measurement analysis correlating with the old Pre-Romanesque

structure directed us into more detailed, systematical research of the visible structures of the walls

in Sabinijeva Street and after the finding of two loopholes also into a detailed research of the

remains of old city walls.

The results of our research are presented in this article.

At the same time we completed the research of the former passable fortification that was

protruding as a tower from the line of the walls.

Both researches are exceptionally important as the set-off point for further multi-disciplinary



researches since they uncover material remains of the old Koper City walls that had been

unknown. They also indicate the presumption that in Sabinijeva Street we discovered a rare

material record of the history in the period of transition from Late Antiquity to early Middle Ages

- or in other words from the period of great migrations of peoples to the West, to Padania.

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Koper Walls