From Mithra's sanctuary to the Church of St. Michael
Results of the excavations in Prolozac Donji - Postranje
Organized by: Archaeological Museum in Zagreb and the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments, Split
Venue: Archaeological Museum in Zagreb
Duration: 15th February - 14th April 2007
Concept: Ljubomir Gudelj
Design: Marko Rogosic
Scope: exhibits, photographs, drawings, plans
Type: archaeological, study, transportable
The exhibition From Mithra's sanctuary to the church of St. Michael presents the results of archaeological excavations on the local cemetery of Proložac Donji near Imotski. It bears a distinct testimony of a two-millennia-long continuity of human activities at a position where architectural remains from classical antiquity were discovered, in addition to an early Christian sacral and sepulchral complex and an early medieval church, and which yielded a valuable collection of stone, ceramic, glass and metal objects.
Prominent among them are Roman grave stelae, remains of early Christian and pre-Romanesque church furniture, late medieval stećak-type monuments and large crosses, recent stone fragments remaining after the destruction of the old church of St. Michael, as well as pieces of jewellery from classical antiquity, late antiquity, middle ages and the recent period, metal tools, fragments of glass and ceramic vessels, and Roman, Byzantine, Turkish, Venetian and Austro-Hungarian coins. The most important movable monument from the site is the two-sided Mithraic icon with the representation of Taurochtony on one side and the Feast on the other, and with a votive inscription.
The excavation results are also illustrated with panels with representations of the archaeological map of the upper part of the Imotski-Bekija plain, architectural plans of individual phases and an animated pictorial presentation of the Proložac area, with its exceptionally rich natural and cultural heritage.
The site's history and monuments are analyzed in detail in the monograph From Mithra's sanctuary to the church of St. Michael, and the exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue with the same title.