Whose monuments? Interpreting mosque-to-church conversion in Dalmatia

Ljubo Karaman was the first researcher who gave Dalmatia’s Ottoman heritage scientific visibility in his 1933 book 15th and 16th Century Art in Dalmatia. Furthermore, in On the Impact of the Native Environment in Croatian Art: Problems of Peripheral Art (1963), he established a framework for analysing Ottoman heritage in Croatia within Borderland Art – a category he signified with having “great capacity of heterogeneous artistic synthesis.” However, Karaman did not extend his analysis to architectural environments formed after the Christianisation of these originally Islamic buildings during the 17th century. Indeed, this phenomenon did not provoke any scientific interest in Croatia. This research will present an interpretation of (Christianised) Ottoman architectural heritage in Dalmatia and its influence on the local visual language. Two examples will be used to that aim: the mosque of Halil Hoca in Drniš converted into the church of Saint Anthony in the second half of the 17th century; and the parish church of the Nativity of Mary in nearby Gradac constructed in the second half of the 18th century.