Beram, Church of St Martin

The art-historical and Glagolitic monuments of Beram bear witness to the rich cultural heritage of the rural landscape of late medieval Istria. In addition to the cemetery church of St Mary at Škrilina, medieval wall paintings have also been preserved in the parish church of St Martin, located in the very centre of Beram.

The medieval structure of the church of St Martin survives in the sanctuary, while the remainder of the building assumed its present Neo-Romanesque appearance during a reconstruction carried out in 1910. The Gothic sanctuary is covered by a ribbed cross vault and decorated with frescoes dated to 1431. Their dating is confirmed by a preserved Glagolitic inscription attesting to the construction of the church of St Martin.

The sanctuary also contains a baptismal font bearing a Glagolitic inscription and the inscribed year 1493, which originally belonged to the church of St Mary at Škrilina. A stone Late Gothic relief depicting St Martin is embedded in the eastern wall of the triumphal arch.

The wall paintings of the sanctuary and triumphal arch are the work of three different masters. The vault is decorated with painted medallions containing the symbols of the four Evangelists and cherubim. The scenes on the lateral walls of the sanctuary are organised into two registers. On the northern wall, the upper register contains a depiction of St Martin. The lower zone features martyr saints within painted arcades, and the sequence of saintly figures continues onto the eastern wall. These depictions are attributed to a master trained within the Veronese cultural sphere. A second master, whose formal language reveals stylistic elements of Friulian origin, painted the left side of the triumphal arch. The upper register of the arch depicts three saints, while the lower register is adorned with a choir of angels. The third master is the author of the depictions of the Virgin of Mercy and the Abraham's Bosom (?) on the right side of the triumphal arch. Based on stylistic and formal characteristics, his activity is associated with the Venetian cultural sphere.

The wall paintings of the church of St Martin were first discussed by Branko Fučić in 1964 in his doctoral dissertation Srednjovjekovno zidno slikarstvo u Istri.

Iconographic programme:

Vault: 1. – 4. Symbols of the Evangelists, 5. – 6. Cherubim. North wall: 7. St Martin Dividing His Cloak, 8. Martyr Saints. East wall: 9. Martyr Saints Triumphal arch: 10. St Michael, Job, and a Bishop, 11. Choir of Angels, 12. Abraham's Bosom, 13. Virgin of Mercy.