Zagreb before it existed – before 1094 – Roman milestone in Jelkovec
Unveiling of the monument “Roman milestone in Jelkovec”
As part of the initiative “Zagreb before it existed – before 1094”
Authors: Zoran Gregl (†), Nenad Jandrić, Željko Kovačić, Ozren Domiter
Project patrons: Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and Croatian Natural History Museum
On Thursday, 03 December 2020 at 13:30, on the eastern plateau of the Jelkovec Library, Ulica Vladimira Strahuljaka 3, next to the Rimski put promenade, the monument Roman milestone in Jelkovec will be ceremonially unveiled as part of the initiative Zagreb before it existed – before 1094.
Roman milestones served as road signs primarily marking the distance to a larger city, but they also had a promotional role in glorifying the ruling emperor under whose authority the road was located.
The original Jelkovec milestone, preserved by the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, was found in 1934 along today’s Rimski put street, the authentic route of the former Roman road from Siscia, via Andautonia, to Ptuj.
The milestone bears the inscription of the formal owner of the road, Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax, during whose reign it was erected in 235.
The monument served as a road sign and marked the distance of that location on the road from the Roman city of Siscia, today’s Sisak.
Thanks precisely to the discovery of this monument, the Roman city of Andautonia was clearly located in the area of today’s Ščitarjevo, about 4.5 km from Jelkovec.
In the implementation of the project of placing the Jelkovec milestone, alongside the authors of the initiative, the Prigorje Museum, Zagreb City Libraries, the Conservation Department in Zagreb and the permanent patrons of the initiative, the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and the Croatian Natural History Museum, also participated.
Financial support was provided by the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, and the Zagreb Tourist Board.
Through the museum initiative Zagreb before it existed – before 1094, which a group of authors has been carrying out for a full 30 years with the continuous support of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and the Croatian Natural History Museum, authentic locations where archaeological and palaeontological-geological monuments were found have been marked.
The idea for this form of museum communication originated from the museum advisor of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, the late Zoran Gregl, PhD, and was joined by museum professional Nenad Jandrić and architect Željko Kovačić.
After Dr. Gregl’s death, archaeologist Ozren Domiter joined the author team.
The beauty of this idea lies in its simplicity. A replica, or cast, is made of an object of archaeological or geological-palaeontological significance for which reliable circumstances of discovery exist.
Such a cast, accompanied by a short interpretive text about the significance and age of the object and the circumstances of its discovery, is placed at the location where it was once found.
The only condition is that the object was found in the area of the city of Zagreb, at a time when Zagreb, formally speaking, did not yet exist, that is, before the founding of the Zagreb Diocese in 1094.
Through this inversion of the museum into the urban, the static into the living, museum objects in the form of their copies leave the museum and enter the bustle of city streets, giving them a touch of museality and bearing witness to the history of the city before it, at least formally, existed.
For this project, the authors received an award in the Proposal section of the 26th Zagreb Salon of Architecture in 1991.
During 30 years of systematic implementation of the museum initiative “Zagreb before it existed – before 1094”, 13 locations where objects of archaeological or palaeontological significance were found have been marked so far.
With the unveiling of the monument in Jelkovec, in the 30th year of the initiative, the 14th witness to the rich heritage of the city of Zagreb will also be revealed:
1. Kerestinec – tombstone of Pontius
2. Petrinjska Street – marble head of a Roman man
3. Frankopanska Street – mammoth hip bone
4. Stenjevec – Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – plaque with an inscription marking a Roman settlement from the 1st – 2nd century and later an Old Croatian cemetery from the 11th – 13th century
5. Intersection of Savska and Vukovarska streets – plaque with a relief of a ceramic jug with two handles as a reminder of two ancient cremation graves dated to the 1st – 2nd century
6. Banjačićeva Street – bronze figurine of the god Jupiter
7. Kaptol – Roman tombstone of Aconia Salvia
8. Gornji Bukovec – fragment of the cornice of a Roman-era funerary stele
9. Podsused – whale skeleton
10. Mirogojska Road – early Christian lamp in the shape of a lamb with Christ’s monogram
11. Ribnjak Park – Roman tombstone of Lucius Egnatuleius Florentinus
12. Ban Josip Jelačić Square – coin of Roman Emperor Diocletian
13. County Court building – coin of Roman Emperor Hadrian
14. Jelkovec milestone – eastern plateau of the Jelkovec Library
In the coming period, the authors of the initiative wish to continue its intensive implementation and interpolate into the bustle of the city objects such as Old Croatian earrings on Kaptol, Galerius’s silver coin on St. Mark’s Square, a Bronze Age hoard in Dežmanov prolaz, and a Roman bucket from Zagorska cesta, with the aim of bearing witness to and promoting the rich cultural and historical heritage of Zagreb.
“…Whose past is it? To whom do the objects we found in places where someone’s houses, cemeteries, fields, roads once stood belong…? To the people living today. To the citizens. Like few other places, the city is a living memory structure that can be read as a kind of museum, as a multi-layered configuration of memory. This project enabled the citizens of Zagreb to somewhat broaden their horizons and their understanding of the importance of their own existence, as only the latest episode in the enormous time that preceded them. The project is a perfect example of sensitive and thorough professional and civic culture.”
– Prof. Tomislav Šola, PhD