Piran

Church of St Francis of Assisi

Heritage record number: 3879

List of paintings

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The Franciscan Friars Minor probably settled in Piran either at the same time as in Koper – i.e. around 1265 – or at the end of the 13th century, just before the construction of the church and the monastery in Piran began in 1301.[1] According to Paolo Naldini, the Friars arrived in Piran thanks to the Bishop of Koper Pietro Manolesso. They were granted a large enclosure opposite the Church of Our Lady of the Snows.[2] The built-in inscription plaque on the right side of the church façade indicates that the construction of the church and the monastery took place from 1301 to 1318, while the foundation stone was laid by the Podestà of Piran Matteo Manoleso.[3] The end of the construction in 1318 is also hinted at by the decision of the Venetian Senate of the same year, allowing for the transport of 16,000 bricks without the payment of tax pro copriendo ecclesiam S. Francisci.[4] The Piran monastery was the only one in Istria that continued to function even after the official annexation of the former Venetian Istria to the Kingdom of Italy in May 1806, when a series of decrees abolished the Minorite monasteries in Milje, Koper, Poreč, Vodnjan, and Pula.[5] The monastery in Piran took in many friars and most of the movable heritage from the abolished Istrian monasteries, especially from Koper.[6] In Piran, the Minorites kept pursuing their mission until as late as the monastery’s nationalisation in 1954, when the facilities were dedicated to a retirement home.[7] In 1992, an application was lodged for the denationalisation of the monastery complex – a process that took eight years.[8]

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[1] Cf. NALDINI 1700, p. 298; CAPRIN 1905, p. 276, n. 1; SARTORI 1986, p. 1269; MARAČIĆ 1992, p. 12; MARAČIĆ 2001, pp. 26, 28; VOGRIN 2002, p. 25.
[2] Cf. NALDINI 1700, p. 297. Pietro Manolesso came from an old Venetian patrician family. Before he was appointed Bishop of Koper on 4 September 1301, he had been a member of the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor; see MARAČIĆ 2001, p. 28, with earlier bibliography.
[3] For the transcription, cf. VUK 1983, pp. 136–139; VOGRIN 2001, pp. 383–84. In the middle of the 19th century, a document was supposedly kept in the monastery, testifying to the beginning of the construction of the church and monastery; cf. P. C. 1848, p. 33.
[4] Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, enota Piran, Antonio Alisi, Chiese minori, Conventi e Confraternite di Pirano, unpaginated introductory part. The current location of the manuscript is stated in SALMIČ 2021, p. 13.
[5] MARAČIĆ 1992, pp. 54, 85; ŽITKO 2001, pp. 53–54.
[6] Cf. MARAČIĆ 1992, pp. 54, 85; ŽITKO 2001, pp. 53–54.
[7] ŠAMPERL 2001 a, p. 73.
[8] In December 1975, the monastery was declared a cultural monument; see ŠAMPERL 2001 a, p. 77.

The construction of the original church and monastery began in 1301 and lasted until 1318.[1] The Gothic church was probably of similar dimensions to the present one. This is indicated by the visible remains of Gothic arches on the site of both side choir chapels, the newly plastered barrel vault preserved above the southern chapel, and the fresco on the southern wall of the nave near the choir loft, indicating the original length of the nave.[2] Therefore, the original church was a single-nave building containing three choir chapels with rectangular termination, two of which were smaller side chapels whose floor plans deviated from the width of the nave.[3] Along the northern wall of the nave, the construction of individual chapels began as early as the Middle Ages. Later, they were connected into a kind of a side nave, which opens into the main nave with semi-circular arches.[4] The medieval monastery complex also included an oratory dedicated to St John the Baptist, constructed in 1320.[5] Already in the Middle Ages, a belfry was also built above the left side choir chapel, reaching its present form and height in 1715.[6] The oldest part of the monastery complex is represented by the Church of St Catherine, which had stood to the south of the western façade of the church even before the construction of the church and monastery of St Francis began.[7]

In the 15th and 16th centuries, minor repairs were made to the church, described mainly in the preserved testaments,[8] while in the early 16th century, a Renaissance tribuna was added. Carpaccio’s painting of Mary with Jesus and the Saints was commissioned for it in 1518.[9]

The present Baroque appearance of the church and monastery is mainly the result of the 18th-century alterations.[10] At the end of the 17th century, a new monastery entrance with a monumental stone portal dating from 1694 was constructed south of the church front.[11] The Baroque cloister was built in the first half of the 18th century, and a new fountain was added in 1750.[12] According to Father Girolamo Granić, the church was also more thoroughly rebuilt and Baroquised around 1730.[13] Today, the Baroque side portal, dated 1731 and leading from the cloister into the nave near the sacristy, attests to the Baroquisation.[14] In the fourth decade of the 18th century, the church received new choir stalls.[15] These were already adapted to the new appearance of the choir, as their design takes into account the doorways in the northern and southern walls of the main chapel, leading into the two Gothic side chapels (probably already closed from the nave side at that time).[16] At the same time, the nave was probably vaulted, while the Baroque mouldings are also evident on all three side nave arches, supported by two piers and two pilasters, and on the profile of the triumphal arch (the passage from the nave into the chancel).[17] Renovations continued in the second half of the century when a new Baroque high altar was commissioned in 1787. Consequently, the former Renaissance tribuna was torn down, though parts of it were used for two side altars in the first and third chapel along the church’s northern wall.[18]

The last extensive interventions were carried out in the 1880s: between 1882 and 1883, the church received a new façade, which is commemorated by an inscription on a stone slab on the northern side of the façade. Father Girolamo Granić, who strived for the church’s renovation at the time, also meticulously described the progress of the works and the appearance of the previous, unplastered medieval exterior.[19] The renovation was supervised by Giuseppe Mosso in cooperation with the architect Giovanni Righetti Jr.[20] In the 1880s, during the restoration of Carpaccio’s painting of Mary with Jesus and the Saints, the Renaissance tribuna from the beginning of the 16th century[21] was restored and built into the first side chapel on the northern end of the church.[22] In 1889, the chancel also received a new ceiling with an oculus.[23]

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[1] The beginning and the finalisation of the construction is indicated by an inscription plaque on the southern side of the church façade. Cf. VUK 1983, pp. 136–139; VOGRIN 2001, pp. 383–84.
[2] Unfortunately, the fresco is in an extremely poor condition and has not been restored. The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Piran regional unit, does not keep any photographs of its uncovering. The fresco is currently covered with a plasterboard and is not visible. For the purposes of this digital corpus, the plasterboard was removed in May 2022 for the duration of the fresco research.
[3] For more information about the appearance of the medieval church, see VUK 1983, pp. 143–150; VUK 2001, pp. 91–95; WALCHER 2001, p. 214; OTER GORENČIČ 2012, pp. 569–577. Mojca MarjAna Kovač assumes that the medieval church of St Francis, just like other churches of the mendicant orders, had a partition – a so-called tramezzo – which separated the sections for the faithful and the friars. More about this in KOVAČ 2021, pp. 32–33, fig. 1.
[4] Cf. VUK 1983, p. 140; VUK 2001, p. 86; OTER GORENČIČ 2012, pp. 569–570.
[5] During the renovation works in the cloister in 1982, the remains of two biforas and the former entrance into the Oratory of St John the Baptist, now a pinacotheca with a lapidarium, were uncovered. According to Mija OTER GORENČIČ 2012, pp. 574–577, the oratory once served as a chapterhouse; cf. Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, enota Piran, Antonio Alisi, Chiese minori, Conventi e Confraternite di Pirano, p. 18; GRANIĆ 1887, p. 11; VUK 2001, p. 98. For more information about the development of the monastery complex and the conservation findings regarding the age of its individual sections, see LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995. I would like to thank Mira Ličen Krmpotič for the reports, which she keeps in her personal archives.
[6] More about the remains of the old belfry in LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995; cf. VUK 2001, p. 89; OTER GORENČIČ 2012, p. 572. The belfry in Piran is supposedly based on the model of the Cathedral of St George of 1608 (see Stane BERNIK, Koper, Izola, Piran. Organizem slovenskih obmorskih mest, Ljubljana-Piran 1968, p. 148). It was renovated in 1913 and 1982, when it was given a new Marmorino plaster. For more information about the construction of the new bell tower and the purchase of the bells, see VUK 2001, p. 90, with earlier bibliography.
[7] For more information about the more recent archaeological research in the former Church of St Catherine, see GUŠTIN, PRELOŽNIK, SAKARA SUČEVIĆ 2009, pp. 303–312. For the results of the original research, see LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995.
[8] Cf. SARTORI 1986, p. 1270; MARAČIĆ 2001, p. 32; VUK 2001, p. 86; ŠAMPERL 2002, p. 146; OTER GORENČIČ 2012, p. 569.
[9] About the tribuna, cf. CRAIEVICH 2001, pp. 226–227; VUK 2001, p. 93; ŠTEFANAC 2021, pp. 39–53. For Carpaccio’s Mary with Jesus and the Saints painting, see Giorgio FOSSALUZZA, La pala di Vittore Carpaccio per San Francesco a Pirano, 1518, Carpaccio a Pirano/Carpaccio v Piranu (edd. Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Luca Caburlotto), Padova 2021, pp. 97–116 (with earlier bibliography).
[10] At the beginning of the 18th century, Father Silvestro Apollonio allegedly had the monastery renovated with his own funds; see P. C. 1848, p. 33.
[11] The door was allegedly designed by master Giovanni Sartori, who had previously also drawn up the plan for the altar of St Anthony of Padua in the monastery church, while the manufacturing of the door was supposedly entrusted to Father Domenico Furiano from the Piran monastery; see GRANIĆ 1887, p. 4; ALISI s. a., p. 126. For more information about the portal construction, see VUK 2001, pp. 95–96.
[12] For an analysis of the information about the construction of the cloister, provided by GRANIĆ 1887, pp. 11–12, and ALISI s. a., p. 137, and the archival sources from the extant expenditure book for the late 17th and first half of the 18th century, see VUK 2001, pp. 100–103. The original source of information about the purchases is kept in Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, enota Piran, fond frančiškanskega samostana, Libro della Frabrica; see VUK 1983, p. 129. Earlier, Nace ŠUMI, Arhitektura XVI. stoletja na Slovenskem, Ljubljana 1966, pp. 157–158, 177, had dated the cloister to the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century based on stylistic comparisons.
[13] GRANIĆ 1887, p. 4; cf. VUK 2001, p. 91.
[14] The construction of the portal in this year is also evidenced in an archival record of 26 November 1731, which states that a decent church door had to be manufactured in order to embellish the cloister and the church; see Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, enota Piran, fond frančiškanskega samostana, Knjiga zapisnikov sej, p. 5. Quoted after VUK 2001, p. 89, cit. n. 10.
[15] Marko Vuk states that the church received new choir stalls in 1736, while in a footnote, he cites the same source but a different page, and states that the monastery received new choir stalls made of walnut wood on 6 March 1742. Cf. GRANIĆ 1887, p. 4; ALISI s. a., p. 148.
[16] Cf. VUK 2001, pp. 91–92.
[17] More about this in VUK 2001, p. 90. However, the triumphal arch stringcourse is different, see OTER GORENČIČ, p. 570, 571.
[18] The other parts of the tribuna (two stone arcades) were lost; see VUK 2001, p. 93.
[19] GRANIĆ 1887, pp. 3–4.
[20] VUK 2001, p. 88, n. 7, states that the receipts for some payments made to this builder for the restoration of the façade have been preserved in the archives of the Minorite monastery in Piran. About Righetti, see Sonja Ana HOYER, Giovanni Righetti, inženir, arhitekt-konservator, Razprave iz evropske umetnosti za Ksenijo Rozman (ed. Barbara Jaki), Ljubljana 1999, p. 230. Stane BERNIK, Koper, Izola, Piran. Organizem slovenskih obmorskih mest, Ljubljana-Piran 1968, p. 181, noticed that the design of the façade was influenced by that of the nearby Church of Our Lady of Consolation and the Piran Cathedral.
[21] GRANIĆ 1887, pp. 4–6, 10–11, reports extensively on the restoration of the tribuna, whose year of creation and restoration is also attested to by an inscription carved in stone on the interior side of the arch facing the church: F. MCII R. MDCCCLXXXV. Quoted after VUK 2001, p. 93.
[22] Earlier, Carpaccio’s painting used to hang here. During the renovation of the tribuna, the missing parts were replaced, while decorative and architectural elements needed to achieve an aesthetic whole were added. The works were supervised by the architect Giovanni Righetti Jr., while the apostles and angels on the dome were painted by Domenico Acquaroli, who also completed the restoration of Carpaccio’s painting in 1885; cf. GRANIĆ 1887, pp. 4–6; Sonja Ana HOYER, Giovanni Righetti, inženir, arhitekt-konservator, Razprave iz evropske umetnosti za Ksenijo Rozman (ed. Barbara Jaki), Ljubljana 1999, pp. 229–230; VUK 2001, p. 93.
[23] Several invoices that mention works on the choir during this time (September, October, November 1889, etc.) are kept in the archives of the Minorite monastery in Piran. Quoted after VUK 2001, p. 94.

The following works represent an essential source of information about the history and architectural history of the Church and Monastery of St Francis in Piran: Album d’opere artistiche esistenti presso i minori conventuali della antica provincia dalmato-istriana ora aggregata alla patavina di S. Antonio by Girolamo Maria Granić (1887), Chartularium Piranense by Camiloa De Franceschi with references to testaments and other documents related to the monastery from the 14th century,[1] Cronologia Piranense by Antonio Alisi,[2] and Archivio Sartori, Documenti di storia e arte francescana. La provincia del santo dei Frati Minori Conventuali, especially the part dedicated to the monastery complex in Piran, in which Antonio Sartori collected information about the monastery’s history from various archival sources.[3] Some important information can also be found in Antonio Alisi’s book Pirano. La sua chiesa, la sua storia, published in Trieste in 1972.[4] Nace Šumi mentions the church and monastery in his book Arhitektura XVI. stoletja na Slovenskem, which focuses mainly on the Renaissance aedicula, the cloister, and the Baroque entrance portal to the monastery,[5] while in 1983, Marko Vuk wrote the first detailed study of the church’s architectural history in the form of an article.[6] In the compendium Istria, Città Maggiori,[7] various authors focused on the church, the monastery, and the monastery furnishings, while the collective volume Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu (1301–2001), published on the 700th anniversary of the Minorite monastery in Piran in 2001, represents the fundamental work about the architectural, economic, and religious history of the monastery complex and the Church of St Francis. In 2012, Mija Oter Gorenčič focused more closely on the medieval architectural history of the church and monastery.[8]

A list of paintings and other valuable documents from the monastery complex was published in Inventario degli oggetti d’arte d’Italia, Provincia di Pola in 1935,[9] while the oil paintings from the church and monastery were later analysed mainly by Janez Mikuž and Tomaž Brejc.[10] In 2018, a symposium dedicated primarily to Carpaccio’s work in Piran was organised on the 500th anniversary of his altarpiece Mary with Jesus and the Saints and the 700th anniversary of the consecration of the Piran Church of St Francis. A collection of papers presented at the symposium was published in 2021.[11]

 

ALISI 1987–1990
Antonio ALISI, Cronologia Piranense, La voce di San Giorgio, 40–58, 1987–1990, in several parts.

ALISI s. a.
Antonio ALISI, Pirano. La sua chiesa, la sua storia, s. l., s. a.

BONIN, DAROVEC 2001
Zdenka BONIN, Darko DAROVEC, Oris gospodarstva piranskega minoritskega samostana, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 107–139.

CAPRIN 1905
Giuseppe CAPRIN, L’Istria nobilissima, 1, Trieste 1905.

CRAIEVICH 2001
Alberto CRAIEVICH, Cappella del Carpaccio, Istria. Città maggiori. Capodistria, Parenzo, Pirano, Pola. Opere d’arte dal Medioevo all’Ottocento (edd. Giuseppe Pavanello, Maria Walcher), Trieste 2001, pp. 226–227.

DE FRANCESCHI 1940
Camillo DE FRANCESCHI, Chartularium piranense, raccolta dei documenti medievali, 2, Parenzo 1940.

GRANIĆ 1887
Girolamo Maria GRANIĆ, Album d’opere artistiche esistenti presso i minori conventuali della antica provincia dalmato-istriana ora aggregata alla patavina di S. Antonio, Trieste 1887.

GUŠTIN, PRELOŽNIK, SAKARA SUČEVIĆ 2009
Mitja GUŠTIN, Andrej PRELOŽNIK, Maša SAKARA SUČEVIĆ, Grobnice v nekdanji cerkvi sv. Katarine v Piranu, Annales. Series Historia et Sociologia, 19/2, 2009, pp. 303–312.

HÖFLER 1997
Janez HÖFLER, Srednjeveške freske v Sloveniji. 2: Primorska, Ljubljana 1997.

KOS 1989
Milan KOS, Ustanovitev samostana sv. Frančiška v Piranu in nekateri važnejši dogodki do leta 1579, Ljubljana 1989 (diploma thesis typescript)

KOVAČ 2021
Mojca Marjana KOVAČ, Come appariva la chiesa di San Francesco a Pirano nel 1518. Architettura e arredi sacri nell’interpretazione delle fonti, Carpaccio a Pirano/Carpaccio v Piranu (edd. Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Luca Caburlotto), Padova 2021, pp. 25–38.

LAVRIČ 1986
Ana LAVRIČ, Vizitacijsko poročilo Agostina Valiera o koprski škofiji iz leta 1579, Ljubljana 1986.

LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995
Mira LIČEN KRMPOTIČ, Poročilo. Minoritski samostan Piran – sondiranje, Piran (5 August) 1995 (typescript).

MARAČIĆ 1992
Ljudevit Anton MARAČIĆ, Franjevci konventualci u Istri. U povodu 750. obljetnice smrti bl. Otona iz Pule, Pazin 1992.

MARAČIĆ 2001
Ljudevit Anton MARAČIĆ, Franjevački počeci u Istri i samostan sv. Franje u Piranu, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 23–39.

NALDINI 1700
Paolo NALDINI, Corografia ecclesiastica o sia descrittione della città e della diocesi di Giustinopoli detto volgarmente Capo d’Istria, Venezia 1700.

OTER GORENČIČ 2012
Mija OTER GORENČIČ, Srednjeveška stavbna dediščina benediktincev, dominikancev, manjših bratov sv. Frančiška in klaris v slovenski Istri, Annales. Series Historia et Sociologia, 22/2, 2012, pp. 555–588.

P. C. 1848
P. C., Dell’Ordine serafico di qualche provincia, e di alcuni conventi francescani d’Istria, L’Istria, 9, (19 February) 1848, pp. 33–36.

SLAMIČ 2021
Igor SALMIČ, Il convento di San Francesco a Pirano, Carpaccio a Pirano/Carpaccio v Piranu (edd. Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Luca Caburlotto), Padova 2021, pp. 9–24.

SANTANGELO 1935
Antonino SANTANGELO, Inventario degli oggetti d’arte d’Italia. 5: Provincia di Pola, Roma 1935.

SARTORI 1986
Antonio SARTORI, Archivio Sartori. Documenti di storia e arte francescana. La provincia del santo dei Frati Minori Conventuali, 2/2, Padova 1986.

ŠAMPERL 2001 a
Janez ŠAMPERL, Prispevek k zgodovinopisju samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu od leta 1900 do velikega jubileja, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 65–84.

ŠAMPERL 2001 b
Janez ŠAMPERL, Zadnja obnova samostanskega kompleksa sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 409–425.

ŠAMPERL 2002
Janez ŠAMPERL, Še nekaj prispevkov za kroniko samostana sv. Frančiška v Piranu, Piran 2002.

ŠTEFANAC 2021
Samo ŠTEFANAC, Limiti territoriali dell’attività dell bottega dei Lombardo lungo la costa Adriatica Orientale, Carpaccio a Pirano/Carpaccio v Piranu (edd. Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Luca Caburlotto), Padova 2021, pp. 39–53.

VOGRIN 2001
Marjan VOGRIN, Napisi v samostanu in cerkvi sv. Frančiška, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 383–396.

VOGRIN 2002
Marjan VOGRIN, Slovenska minoritska provinca sv. Jožefa od začetkov do ponovne samostojnosti, Frančiškovi manjši bratje minoriti na Slovenskem od časov sv. Frančiška do današnjih dni. 30-letnica samostojne Slovenske minoritske province sv. Jožefa (ed. Marjan Vogrin), Ljubljana 2002, pp. 9–31.

VUK 1983
Marko VUK, Minoritska cerkev in samostan sv. Frančiška v Piranu. Stavbna zgodovina in opis opreme. 1. del, Goriški letnik, 10, 1983, pp. 129–151.

VUK 2001
Marko VUK, Oris stavbne zgodovine cerkve sv. Frančiška in minoritskega samostana v Piranu, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 85–105.

WALCHER 2001
Maria WALCHER, Chiesa e convento di San Francesco, Istria. Città maggiori. Capodistria, Parenzo, Pirano, Pola. Opere d’arte dal Medioevo all’Ottocento (edd. Giuseppe Pavanello, Maria Walcher), Trieste 2001, pp. 214–215.

ŽITKO 2001
Salvator ŽITKO, Zgodovina samostana od 17. do 19. stoletja, Sedem stoletij minoritskega samostana sv. Frančiška Asiškega v Piranu 1301–2001 (edd. France Martin Dolinar, Marjan Vogrin), Piran 2001, pp. 41–63.

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[1] DE FRANCESCHI 1940.
[2] ALISI 1987–1990, in several parts.
[3] SARTORI 1986, pp. 1269–1283.
[4] The book is a reprint of La chiesa di Pirano by the same author, which was published in the Piran parish newsletter La Voce di San Giorgio between October 1937 and August 1939. The year and place of publication are not indicated, and the data are quoted from VUK 1983, p. 130.
[5] Nace ŠUMI, Arhitektura XVI. stoletja na Slovenskem, Ljubljana 1966, p. 154, figg. 157, 158, 161.
[6] VUK 1983, pp. 129–151.
[7] Istria. Città maggiori. Capodistria, Parenzo, Pirano, Pola. Opere d’arte dal Medioevo all’Ottocento (edd. Giuseppe Pavanello, Maria Walcher), Trieste 2001, pp. 214–228.
[8] OTER GORENČIČ 2012, pp. 555–588.
[9] SANTANGELO 1935, pp. 146–149.
[10] Cf. Janez MIKUŽ, Slikarstvo XVI. in XVII. stoletja na slovenski obali, Koper 1964; Janez MIKUŽ, Slikarstvo XVIII. stoletja na slovenski obali, Koper 1967; Tomaž BREJC, Slikarstvo od 15. do 19. stoletja na Slovenski obali, Piran-Koper 1983.
[11] Carpaccio a Pirano/Carpaccio v Piranu (edd. Giovanna Baldissin Molli, Luca Caburlotto), Padova 2021.

Most of the preserved written sources about the Piran Minorite Monastery are still kept in the monastery archives. They mainly relate to the monastery’s activities after 1500, as on St Clare’s Day (11 August) in 1500, rainwater poured into the lower rooms of the monastery complex and flooded the archives kept in the sacristy.[1] The Koper Regional Archives (PAK), Piran unit, keeps the books of minutes from the friars’ sessions in the Franciscan monastery collection; an essential source of information for the building’s architectural history Libro della Fabrica;[2] and the relevant testaments,[3] which have already been partially published by Camillo De Franceschi,[4] Milan Kos,[5] Marko Vuk,[6] Ljudevit Anton Maračić,[7] and Igor Salmič.[8] Another vital source, also kept in the Koper Regional Archives, is Antonio Alisi’s manuscript Chiese minori, Conventi e Confraternite di Pirano,[9] while the manuscript by the guardian of the Piran monastery Pietro Trani, titled Cronologico Cattalogo e memorie de Padri, e Frati, figli del Convento dei Minori Conventuali di s. Francesco della Città nobilissima di Pirano, dall-anno 1301 sino al corrente 1733,[10] originally kept in the archives of the monastery in Piran, has been stored in the archives of the Monastery of St Francis in Šibenik since 1908.

Apostolic and episcopal visitations also represent an indispensable source of information about the former appearance of the Church of St Francis and its furnishings. In 1579, the Diocese of Koper was visited by Agostino Valier, who listed the following altars in the Piran church: the high altar dedicated to St Francis and nine side altars dedicated to St Nicholas, Mary, St Helena, the Holy Spirit, St Sebastian, St Anthony of Padua, St Andrew, St Jerome, and St Thomas.[11] His description of the Minorite Church in Piran stated: Est satis ampla, recte constructa, habet fores tutas, campanile, organum, crucifixum magnum in medio ecclesiae. Sarta tecta recte se habent.[12] Under the description, he also mentions the altar of St John in the Oratory of St John the Baptist.[13] A description of the church by the Bishop of Koper Paolo Naldini from 1700 has also been preserved. In his work Corografia ecclesiastica, he described it as a single-nave building with an elaborate (nobilmente abbellito) high altar enclosing the choir, with both side choir chapels visible to its left and right. The other altars stood along the northern and southern nave walls, while the most beautiful of them (per i marmi e per i lavori) was the altar dedicated to St Anthony of Padua. The monastery complex also included two smaller confraternity churches or chapels. The one in the cemetery was dedicated to St Catherine, while the other in the monastery was dedicated to St John.[14]

The most authentic visual source for the appearance of the exterior of the Church of St Francis in the 16th century is probably Carpaccio’s painting Mary with Jesus and the Saints from 1518, in which the city district with the Minorite Church and the city walls on the Mogoron hill are depicted to the right of the throne, as it represents the most detailed portrayal of the church.[15] As visual sources, Marko Vuk also mentions Tintoretto’s painting The Dignitaries of Piran from the end of the 16th century, which, however, does not portray the belfry in the right place; the veduta depicted in the Holy Trinity painting by an unknown painter from the beginning of the 17th century in the Piran Cathedral; Angelo de Coster’s painting The Apparition of St George from 1706, also in the Piran Cathedral; and a lithograph of the city by L.F. Casassa from 1802.[16]

The two inscription plaques embedded in the church façade represent an important written source. The plaque on the southern side bears witness to the beginning of the construction of the Monastery and Church of St Francis,[17] while the plaque on the northern side commemorates the renovation of its façade.[18]

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[1] This information is given by Pietro Trani, a theology teacher and guardian of the Piran monastery, in the inventory of the monastery’s property of 1723; see Arhiv minoritskega samostana Piran, box 56 (21), Memorie del P. M. Trani cioe fondazione del convento e catasticho de stabili, 1723. Quoted after BONIN, DAROVEC 2001, p. 110.
[2] VUK 1983, p. 129.
[3] According to Marjan Rožac, of the almost 10,000 testaments kept in the Koper Regional Archives, Piran unit, only 5 % do not mention the Franciscan friars. Quoted after SALMIČ 2021, p. 14, who cites, as a source, the conference lecture by Marjan Rožac titled Minoriti v Piranu skozi stoletja/I frati minori conventuali a Pirano attraverso i secoli, held on 12 April 2018 at the Georgios Pastoral and Cultural Centre in Piran.
[4] DE FRANCESCHI 1940.
[5] KOS 1989, pp. 27–28.
[6] VUK 1983, pp. 129–151.
[7] MARAČIĆ 2001, p. 29.
[8] SALMIČ 2021, pp. 14–15.
[9] Pokrajinski arhiv Koper, enota Piran, Antonio Alisi, Chiese minori, Conventi e Confraternite di Pirano.
[10] The archives of the Monastery of St Francis in Šibenik, No. 136-VI, Pietro Trani, Cronologico Cattalogo e memorie de Padri, e Frati, figli del Convento dei Minori Conventuali di s. Francesco della Città nobilissima di Pirano, dall-anno 1301 sino al corrente 1733 (the manuscript bears the code from the archives of the monastery in Piran: No. 94).
[11] LAVRIČ 1986, pp. 83–84.
[12] LAVRIČ 1986, p. 84.
[13] LAVRIČ 1986, p. 84.
[14] NALDINI 1700, pp. 299–300.
[15] VUK 1983, p. 130.
[16] Cf. VUK 1983, p. 130.
[17] For the transcription, cf. VUK 1983, pp. 136–139; VOGRIN 2001, pp. 383–84. In the middle of the 19th century, a document was supposedly kept in the monastery, testifying to the beginning of the construction of the church and monastery; cf. P. C. 1848, p. 33.
[18] See the Architectural development section.

In 1954, when the monastery was nationalised, the administration of the home for the disabled, which was located in the building, had a part of the cloister leaning on the church walled up. The monastery furnishings that were not taken to museums or other institutions were stored here. The wall was removed in 1961 at the request of the Inter-Municipal Institute for the Protection of the Natural and Cultural Heritage.[1]

The monastery complex was partially probed already in 1975, 1977, and 1982. In 1975, the cloister was probed, revealing the initially whitewashed stone, then a thin lime plaster, and soon also a Baroque Marmorino underneath the more recent layers of plaster on all walls. On the upper floor of the church’s northern nave wall, a window above the sacristy and a layer of thin, smoothed plaster were discovered before the Baroque phase, which means that this part of the building was higher already before the Baroque. The church wall has three walled-up windows, while a passage into the church, which may date from the beginning of the church’s construction, is located above the sacristy. Two biforas and an entrance were found in the oratory, while in the refectory, a fragment of a Crucified fresco with sinopia and a Gothic niche with a mural were discovered.[2] The fresco was taken down to prevent further deterioration, while the sinopia remained in situ.[3] In 1977, the ground-level part of the longer section was inspected. The documentation attests to the existence of an older single-storey building with many walled-up old openings and monolithic lintels.[4] In 1982, it was discovered that the belfry had originally been lower and that it had been raised during the Baroque period. Initially, it was unplastered. Later, it was given a thin lime plaster and then a smoothed Baroque Marmorino with brick covering and a quoin. During the 19th century, the quoin was preserved and restored with roughcast plaster and strong ochre paint.[5] In 1982, the cloister was also renovated, the old window openings opened, the stone elements cleaned, and the door reconstructed.[6]

In the church, in 1987, the entire nave walling was probed and restored, including the dome over the choir. Electricity, lighting, and a sound system were installed. The ceiling frescoes were restored, and the painting works throughout the nave and the choir were completed.[7] Between 1987 and 1991, the church furnishings were restored, while conservation and restoration interventions were also carried out on the altar of St Anthony of Padua, the antependium of the high altar, the altar paintings of Mary and the Saints and the Martyrdom of St Peter, the Renaissance pulpit, and the organ.[8] During the 1990s, the entire Renaissance aedicula was restored. The chapel received new electrical wiring and an alarm system, the whole roof structure over the side nave was replaced, while the decaying façade was removed and replaced with grouted stone. The oil paintings of St Anthony of Padua, hanging in the choir behind the main altar, and the Arrival of the Holy Spirit, which was placed on the southern wall where the altar with the same name had once stood, were also restored at this time.[9]

In 1995, the results of the earlier probings were supplemented by an additional probing and a thermographic survey of the entire monastery building, resulting in a complete picture of the complex by construction phases. The research conducted in 1995 led to the conclusion that the monastery had apparently leaned on the older building next to the Church of St Catherine, which was located successfully, while the refectory had leaned on the oratory of St John the Baptist on one side and on what is now the longer section of the garden part of the building on the other side, which had once been a single-storey section and probably shorter. As early as the 15th or even the 14th century, the cloister must have been two-storeyed, especially the section above the sacristy, the oratory, and the refectory. Between the Church of St Catherine and the refectory, a faint trace of a pre-Baroque window exists on the upper floor, indicating that this part must have been two-storeyed even before the now visible appearance of the 18th-century cloister. On the church wall, traces of walled-up 14th-century windows have been preserved under the plaster.[10] The complex monastery renovation was only completed in 1999 and concluded with a solemn opening.[11] In the same year, the renovation of both monastery wings used as auxiliary rooms began.[12]

Between 1997 and 2001, the church’s exterior was renovated; the renovation of the chancel began in November 2000; while in 2001, the sacristy was thoroughly restored as well.[13]

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[1] Cf. Breda KOVIČ, Konservatorska poročila. Umetnostni spomeniki. Piran, Varstvo spomenikov, 8, 1960–1961, pp. 137–138; ŠAMPERL 2001 a, p. 73.
[2] LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995.
[3] In the other part of the refectory, the rest of the mural has fallen away. Only a small fragment is still preserved around the Gothic niche; see Mira LIČEN, Frančiškanski samostan Piran. Poročilo po obdelanih sondah, Piran 19 September 1975.
[4] LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995.
[5] LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995.
[6] Arhiv KSS, Preliminarna poročila o konservatorskih raziskavah in delih. Umetnostni in urbanistični spomeniki. Piran, Varstvo spomenikov, 24, 1982, p. 226.
[7] ŠAMPERL 2001 b, p. 410.
[8] More about this in ŠAMPERL 2001 b, pp. 410–412.
[9] See ŠAMPERL 2001 b, pp. 413–414.
[10] LIČEN KRMPOTIČ 1995.
[11] About the renovation, see also ŠAMPERL 2001 b, pp. 416–418.
[12] See ŠAMPERL 2001 b, pp. 418–422.
[13] For a more detailed account of the restoration, see ŠAMPERL 2001 b, pp. 414–416.

Gallery

Floor plan with paintings

Piran, Church of St Francis of Assisi, 2024 (last updated 30. 8. 2024). Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi, https://corpuspicturarum.zrc-sazu.si/en/spomenik/church-of-st-francis-of-assisi/ (3. 4. 2025).
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