A discussion of the Antiquity tradition in a region that has never been an authentic part of the Roman Empire is more than polemic, especially when that Classical heritage is attributed to Slavs who never had immediate contact with Roman culture but encountered only the relics after the Western Roman Empire had ceased to exist. That is why we can raise the question of whether we can talk about the survival of Antiquity culture in the Central Danube region, an intentional revival of Classical culture in the 9^th century, or an art import based on cultural and political need.

Christian culture began to penetrate the territory of current day Slovakia before the Slav tribes arrived in the region - i.e. during the existence of the Roman Empire - when German Quadi tribes resided here. The area north of the Danube was never a homogenous part of the Pannonian province but was divided from the barbarian territories regions by the Limes Romanus (borderline). Several masonry Roman architectural monuments are preserved in our region from the period between the 2^nd and 4^th centuries. Besides an auxiliar Gerulata camp constituting part of the Limes Romanus, mainly outpost camps of border forts in the vicinity of the Limes Romanus like Kelemantia (Iza-Leanyvar), Brigetio bridgehead or transitory military camps, e.g. Laugaricio known from written sources of the period. For the last sixty years, other military stations were localised in Stupava, Devin and Milanovce near Nitra, and also settlements known as villa rustica where Roman legionaries or pro-Rome oriented Germanic chiefs resided, in Cunovo, Pac near Trnava and in Dubravka where a unique Roman baths was uncovered.

A wood and stone rectangular building with a prolonged corridor at the Roman outpost station at Devin castle is considered by Slovak scholars to be a Roman Christian building of the cella memoriae type. The assumption of the sacral function of the building is based on the finding of an iron cross-shaped mounting in the interior of the building. However, the closest analogous items were found at Alemannic burial grounds from the 6^th to 8^th centuries. However, neither the location of the building in the camp where the Roman garrison lived nor the design of the construction correspond with Roman memorial chapels, usually situated at cemeteries outside the camps of the legions and outside towns, like that situated in Xanten, Bonn or Augsburg. A more probable interpretation is that the building was originally a Roman granary that might, hypothetically, have been rebuilt into a chapel in the 6^th - 8^th centuries. Sparse written documents mention the missionary activities of a monk called St. Collumban, who was previously with Alemans, and date it to the 7^th century. With some reservation, we can associate it with the mission of St. Amandus. There is evidence of the systematic spreading of Christianity in Slavs in the Morava river region and their conversion to Christianity not only in written sources but also in archaeological findings from the turn of the 8^th and 9^th centuries. This fundamental change in the ideology of Slavs was predominantly caused by the defeat of the Avar khanate by Charlemagne in 791-796: his policy - the military expansion of the Frankish Empire - was realised through spreading Christianity.

Great Moravian religious architecture

The existence of Great Moravian religious architecture in Slovakia is proved by the Salzburg document Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum that states that a church was consecrated on the property of Nitra's Prince Pribina by Bishop Adalramus around 828. Until recently, this building was believed to be the church of St. Emmeram at Nitra Castle. According to the latest research, it was built no sooner than the 13^th century. From the same period is the relief torso of the Donator, which is probably the portrait of the church patron or an apostle.

The consecration of St. Emmeram can relate to an older, defunct church from the 9^th century. Another architectonical fragment of a construction was found in the landfill of the fortification wall of the castle from the 11^th century that can also be associated with the church's existence. It is probably part of the composite capital, from which only the astragal frieze and groove sepals remain. Slovak archaeologists in particular attribute this artefact to Carolingian art, but with no specific argument to support their claim. According to astragal typology - it is composed of globular and lenticular pearls laced on a string and it is more probable that it is an original Roman capital brought from unknown Roman edifice during building activities in the 9^th century.

Slovak researchers associate the consecration of St. Emmeram with the activities of the Bavarian mission from Regensburg. However, the great Moravia region was subordinated under the Salzburg diocese from the 9^th century under the church administration, later under Passau. That is why the assumption that it is the Regensburg mission is unlikely. The consecration of St. Emmeram could relate to another assumed church in Nitra, known as Wiching's bishop's church built probably after 880 when Pope John VIII appointed Wiching as bishop of Nitra. This hypothesis can be supported by the fact that after Arpad's family re-established the bishopric in 11^th century, the Nitra church was also consecrated to St. Emmeram. The relics of St. Emmeram could have been brought from Regensburg to Nitra by Great Moravian Prince Svatopluk, since the principality of Nitra was his appanage. In this way, Svatopluk could demonstrate his political agreements with East Frankish kings, either to Louis the German to whom he swore an oath of allegiance in Forchheim in 874 or with Charles III the Fat to whom he swore an oath of allegiance in 884.

Another building sometimes identified with Pribina's or Wiching's church in Nitra is the defunct St. Martin's church on Martin Hill. This originally Romanesque church was explored by B. Chropovsky, who located an older building under its grounds. It was reconstructed first as a three-apse church, later as a hall church with a quadratic presbytery. Stratigraphic research on both buildings and a BLENDONIS coin found in a grave under the altar, however, do not substantiate the origin of church as the 9^th century. It is more likely that the church was built at the beginning of the 11^th century; the first written mention is from 1006. Later an antechapel was added to the building.

According to the Czech Cosmas Chronicle in the 9^th century, monks supported by Prince Svatopluk built a church at Nitra Hill called Zobor. It is most frequently identified with St. Hyppolitus monastery, which ceased to exist in the 18^th century. However, no 9^th century building has been located at this site.

Archaeological research during the last forty years of the twentieth century has revealed three constructions undoubtedly built in the 9^th century. These are Church of the Saviour (basilica) at Bratislava Castle, a three-apse church at Devin Castle and a rotunda at hill- fort Kostolec near Ducove. The dates of origin of all the buildings are currently based on the interpretation of archaeological findings from burial grounds near the churches. However, the discussed archaeological chronology of the inventories of individual graves as well as the possible time difference between the time an object was made and the time it was placed in the grave make it difficult to precisely date the graves and, consequently, the time when churches were built. Archaeological dating is, moreover, complicated by the fact that the churches might not have been used for burial from the beginning, or, to put it differently, the function of the buildings might have varied during their existence.

In the first half of the sixties, T. Stefanovicova and A. Fiala discovered fragments of a Great Moravian basilica at Bratislava castle. It was located in the southern part of the eastern terrace of the castle hill under the Church of the Saviour from the 11^th century. When this church was built, the older one was mostly destroyed; only the south-western corner and three pairs of pillars on the axes of which the batris were situated in the building walls were preserved. According to the burial ground, specifically the inventory of grave N^o 69, the basilica was built about the middle of the 9^th century. The preserved Great Moravian graves, though, can only be dated in a general way from the second half of the 9^th century. The archaeological findings alone do not make it possible to date the construction of the building more accurately.

Based on architectural features, the building was most frequently compared with the basilica built in Pribina Castle in Pannonia in Zalavar-Receskut. There is currently a debate over the building phases of the church: the question is whether a wooden-stone construction preceded the current building or the building was a hall church from the very beginning with three interior apses rebuilt into a three-nave basilica in the 11^th century. If it is a hall church it may be related to Lombardic and Roman architecture from the 8^th and 9^th century. The same conclusions are valid for the Bratislava basilica which, based on a dimensional analysis, could have been built in measuring units of Roman feet. The total width of the three naves is 38', and the ratio of the naves to the aisles on their axial axes is 10:18, i. e. 5:9. Similar proportions and construction system was used, for example, in the basilica of St. Leonidas in Corinth-Lechaion from the first half of the 5^th century where the internal length of the basilica was in the ratio 1:2[3, and the ratio of the three naves and main nave in the axial axes 5:9. The 1:[3 proportional system of dynamic oblongs can be applied to a reconstructed length of the basilica that would, according to this system, have five pairs of pillars and an assumed three-apse chancel. Similar buildings can be found in the territory of Italy, especially the church of San Salvator in Brescia and Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. The overall dimensions of the church are close to Santa Maria della Grazie in Grado from the 6^th century. It seems probable that the architects of the Bratislava basilica came from northern Italy, possibly from the Adriatic area of the Grado patriarchate. The elongated building with a triconchal end at Devin castle was partially uncovered by the Moravian archaeologist I. L. Cervinka, who considered it to be an old Slav palace. Further research by J. Eisner and V. Mencl in the thirties led towards an interpretation of the building as a building where a Roman garrison lived from the 2^nd century.

Revised research led by V. Placha and J. Hlavicova in the eighties defined the stratigraphy of the building to the period of the 6^th - 10^th century, and this excluded its possible dating back to the Roman period. After disclosure of the third, southern conch, the researchers identified the building as a sacral building from the 9^th century, and this was later confirmed by the discovery of a group of Great Moravian graves not far from the building. The inventory of the graves, undoubtedly from the second half of the 9^th century, does not provide satisfactory arguments to more closely specify the time of its origin. It is generally assumed it was built during the reign of Prince Rastislav, but this is only based on a record in the Annales Fuldenses describing an event in which Prince Rastislav was besieged at Devin Castle by Louis the German. From an architectural point of view, the building was associated exclusively with Dalmatian and/or Istrian architecture, and the western part of the building was considered to be a narthex.

The Polish researcher T. Rodzinska-Chorazy presented a completely different point of view, assuming use of the Carolingian foot in the construction and considering the architecture to be derived from the representational triclinium buildings in Aix-la-Chapelle and Rome. The architectural analysis, however, points more towards the Roman foot measurement. The basic structural elements of the building, like antique spolium, wall width about 70 cm, dimensions of building 10, 11 and 18 feet and the 1:[3 proportion of dynamic rectangles is the same as the basilica at Bratislava Castle. This offers the assumption that both buildings were built during the same period by the same architect. Since the basic concept of the building is close to church dignitaries, like the papal representational triclinium of the Lateran Palace in Rome and Santa Maria foris portis church in Castelseprio built on the Milan bishop's summer seat, the assumption of the northern Italian origin of the architect is more than probable.

At the end of sixties, A. Ruttkay discovered an early medieval hill-fort with a rotunda situated in a separated sacral area within the fortification at a rocky spur near Ducove village. Around the rotunda, a large burial ground from the 10^th - 11^th centuries was researched, based on which the building was first dated back to the 10^th century. In further research stages during the seventies, a group of graves from the 9^th century was uncovered not far from the building, behind the road connecting the fort's entrance with passageways to the residential building, and this finding enabled the rotund to be dated to the Great Moravian period. When dating the building, researchers often referred to grave N^o 1205 with iron spurs decorated by silver tendril ornaments. Based on analogical findings in Croatia, the production of such spurs can be dated back to the turn of the 8^th and 9^th centuries. The building of the hill-fort and placing the spurs in the grave can be assumed as late as the third decade of the 9^th century. However, that does not mean that the rotunda was built during this period. It is more probable it was built near the older, existing burial ground. Its location behind the road and not far from the group of graves proves this.

The only researcher so far to analyse the building's architecture was A. Ruttkay. He presumed that the measure used in its construction was the Longobard foot of 36,5 cm. This was one of the reasons he attributed the building to northern Italian provenience of Aquileia. The currently agreed on theory about the Adriatic origin of the Great Moravian rotunds confirms this. The dimension and proportion elements of the building, however, suggest that the rotund was built using the measurement of Roman foot according to the model of the representational rotunda N^o VI at the Valy fortified settlement near Mikulcice, which probably originates at the beginning of 9^th century as a copy of Charlemagnes's chapel in Aix- la-Chapelle. On the other side, it is related to buildings at both Bratislava and Devin castles by the same thickness of the wall - 70 cm.

Great Moravian religious architecture as an artistic import

The Slavs settled north of Danube, of course, were not familiar with the Antiquity tradition of masonry buildings, just like other "barbaric" nations that after the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire lived in its previous sphere of interest. Great Moravian buildings cannot be explicitly labelled as products of local building engineering. The construction of medieval stone architecture, even their most simple forms, required a "vitruvian" knowledge of building design and technological procedures. This kind of knowledge could not be copied or imitated. Acquiring it required specialised study in countries where a continual Classical tradition existed.

The issue of classical tradition in Great Moravian architecture can thus be analysed in relation to the spreading of Christianity in pagan countries in line with the christianisation policy of the period. That is why the classical tradition was interposed to Great Moravia and, in this way, we can speak about the mediated renaissance of classical art through artistic import. The sacral buildings at Bratislava and Devin castles built from building materials from older Roman buildings are evidence. The deliberate use of Antiquity fragments - art history technical literature called spolium in early medieval times reflected not only the ideological aims of the restitution of the previous Roman Empire but also for mere pragmatic reasons when the architect used Roman architectural elements as building material.

Since structural elements of the analysed buildings are identical and typical for northern Italian architecture, it is possible to raise the question of whether these churches were built by the same architect or group of master builders. They could have been invited to Great Moravia directly by a Moravian prince or some of the church dignitaries of the Moravian archdiocese. These building would then have been built on the order of the prince's court by master-builders from countries where the Classical tradition of masonry construction had been persevered.

How, then, can the northern Italian character of the group of analysed Great Moravian buildings be explained? The area of northern Italy was either a direct part of the Carolingian Empire or was under its power influence from the second half of the 8^th century when Charlemagne overthrew the Longobard Empire. During the first half of the 9^th century, Great Moravia was also more or less a dependent of the Frankish Empire. It was to Prince Svatopluk's merit that Great Moravia extricated itself from its influence with the support of Pope Hadrian II, who nominated Methodius to be archbishop of the Moravian-Pannonian archdiocese around 870. Relations between the Great Moravian Empire and Roman court as well as its contact with the Grado patriarchate, specifically the mission of John of Venice at Svatopluk's court, can be confirmed by preserved written correspondence and literature. As early as 874, John of Venice appears as Svatopluk's envoy in Forchheim at negotiations with Louis the German and in 879 as Svatopluk's envoy sent to the pope in Rome. The analysed relics of great Moravian architecture nevertheless, confirm these political contacts. The Bratislava basilica could have been built as a bishop's basilica after the Moravian-Pannonian archdiocese was divided into three suffragan dioceses by John VII in 880; and the Devin triclinium could have been a bishop's residence modelled on the Lateran Palace.

English translation by Jana Plulikova, David Taylor