ROSACCIO, GIUSEPPE: VIEW OF KLIS

Inventory number 252

Original title: Clissa

Publishing year: 1598

Place of publishing and publisher: Venezia

Format: 10 x 17,5 cm

Technique: Copper engraving

The exceptional importance of Klis, constituted the reason why its fortress with the surrounding countryside obligatorily appeared in every Venetian isolario. The map image begins from the river Jadro. Along the Golf of Kaštela the ruins of the Antique Salona are identified from which the road is leading towards Klis to connect the coast with Klis fortress and the settlement in its suburb (Brogo). After 1537, Klis was ruled by the Turks. For that reason, besides by the fortification structures, the representation of the town is dominated by the Turkish mosque with minaret. The massifs of Kozjak and Mosor are shown fictitiously. In the area surrounding Klis the rests of destructed buildings can be seen as evidence of destructive effects of war. This Rosaccio’s view appeared in the first edition of his travel-record book «Viaggio da Venetia a Constantinopoli per Mare, e per Terra, & insieme quello di Terra Santa» published in 1598.

ROSACCIO, GIUSEPPE

Giuseppe Rossacio (ca 1530-1620), Italian cosmographer who worked in Venice. His most noted works are “Teatro del Cielo e Terra Florence” of 1594, the 1604 edition of Ptolemy’s “Fashion of the Four Elements” and “Teatro del Cielo” of 1615. Of the greatest importance for the depiction of the Croatian lands is his isolario “Viaggio da Venetia a Constantinopoli” comprising map images of all of the bigger islands and ports located along the navigable way leading from Venice to Constantinople, the work that from 1597 onwards went through several editions.