Baška tablet (Bašćanska ploča) is one of the first monuments of Croatian language. A monument of great cultural significance, the Baška Tablet dates from the year 1100.
The tablet is considered to be the birth certificate of the Croats, as the name Croatia and adjective Croatian are mentioned here for the first time in the Croatian language. Despite the fact of not being the oldest Croatian Glagolitic monument (the Plomin tablet, Valun tablet, Krk inscription, are older and certainly all appeared in the 11th century) and in spite of the fact that it was not written in the pure Croatian vernacular - it is nevertheless called "the jewel of the Croatian language" and the "baptismal certificate" of Croatian literary culture. The text can be translated in English as follows:
I, in the name of Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, I abbot Drzhiha, wrote this about the plot of land which was given by Zvonimir, the Croatian King, in his days to St. Lucy (Sv. Lucija) and witnesses (are): Desimir, Prefect of Krbava, Martin (Mratin) in Lika, Pribinezha, clerk in Vinodol, Jacob (Jakov) on the island. If anyone denies it, let him be cursed by 12 Apostles and 4 vangelists and St. Lucy (Sv. Lucija). Let anyone who lives here prays God for them. I abbot Dobrovit built this church with my nine brethren at the time of Prince Kosmat who ruled the whole Country. In those days Mikula was in Otochac with St. Lucy (Sv. Lucija) together.
External links
The Baska Tablet, by Darko Žubrinić (http://www.hr/darko/etf/baska.html)
Baška Tablet, by Mateo Žagar (http://www.svkri.hr/izlozbe/baskatablet.html)
Later the tablet was placed on the floor, like a kind of tombstone and in 1851 it was first noticed and called attention to as an important monument of philology by Petar Dorèiæ, at that time a student of divinity from Krk.
The top part of the tablet has an edging in the form of vine tendrils, whilst the remaining space, just like on the somewhat younger Senj Tablet, is filled with a text (of about a hundred or so words carved in 13 lines!).
The tablet is still the ownership of the bishop of Krk (at the same time, the present abbot of St. Lucy), and in recent times there have been discussions regarding the eventual return of the tablet to its home ground.
In the church of St. Lucy, that is the chapel of the Holy Rosary, the BaskaTablet (replica in original size) is displayed, one of the oldest monuments of the Croatian language, written, or rather carved in stone.
The BaskaTablet is an important artifact, showing how such documents used to be written in Dalmatia and the northern Primorje in the 11th and 12th centuries, but is also a document of vital importance for linguistics, Glagolitic paleography, fine arts and Croatian history.
STARA BASKA, a village on the south-eastern coast of the island of Krk, 8 km southeast of Punat; population 112.
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