Art in Medieval Hungary - Now on Smarthistory!

Being busy has kept me from updating this blog for some time, however, I was busy getting information out about the art of medieval Hungary to other platforms. I would like to call your attention to two of my essays published on the Smarthistory website: one on the statue of St. George, and the other on the Bakócz-chapel in Esztergom. The essays were written as part of a project aimed at creating content related to Eastern Europe to the site. Edited and partly written by Dr. Alice Isabella Sullivan, these new essays present case studies of objects and monuments from the areas to the north of the Danube River (15th-17th centuries). You can already find several of them online! Let's hope that the project can continue with even more content on this superb educational platform.

The first essay is dedicated to the bronze statue of Saint George in Prague Castle. Regarded as one of the most significant bronze statues of the late Middle Ages, it features Saint George and the dragon. The lively and dynamic composition is about three-quarters life-size (almost 2 meters high). The horse rides toward the left on a rocky terrain inhabited by snakes and lizards but rears up and turns his head back toward the dragon. Saint George holds his spear in his right hand and thrusts it diagonally in front of the horse, hitting the dragon's throat. In his left hand, he once held a shield with a cross and an inscription that dated the work to 1373 and named its makers: Martin and Georg of Kolozsvár. You can find more information in my essay.

The second essay is about the Bakócz-chapel, located in the cathedral of Esztergom. Although it is not in its original form today, this chapel was the earliest centrally-planned Renaissance building north of the Alps. Commissioned by Cardinal Tamás Bakócz (archbishop of Esztergom from 1497 to 1521), the chapel is a unique survival from the medieval cathedral of Esztergom and a groundbreaking Renaissance structure finished just a few years before the collapse of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. You can continue reading about the chapel here.