Review of Imre Takács' book on The Arrival of French Gothic in Hungary

Imre Takács: The Arrival of French Gothic in Hungary. Bibliotheca Collegii Professorum Hungarorum. Piliscsaba: Makovecz Campus Alapítvány, 2024. 

ISBN: 9786150202501

Imre Takács's important book about the arrival of French Gothic art in the Kingdom of Hungary has recently been published in an English translation. The book is key to understanding the early reception of the new gothic forms in a far-away Kingdom of medieval Europe. It is well-known that Hungary was among the first places to embrace the new style, but the circumstances and the exact nature of the 'French connection' have been imperfectly understood. Takács provides not only an overview of these questions but numerous new observations and explanations. In historiography, a key role was accorded to the travel of Villard de Honnecourt.  A 13th-century French-language codex in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris preserved the architectural and other drawings of Villard de Honnecourt, and this work has long fascinated scholars of the Gothic period (BNF Fr 19093). In the codex, Villard wrote the following next to a drawing of the traceried window of the cathedral in Reims: "I was sent to Hungary when I drew this, because it pleased me most" (fol. 10v). Additional passages also refer to his Hungarian trip.

This later inscription in the sketchbook of Villard states:
"de Honnecor[t], who had been in Hungary" (BNF)

Imre Henszlmann, one of the pioneering Hungarian researchers of Gothic architecture, was among the first to recognize the significance of entries in the then-unpublished (but already known) codex. Like his contemporaries, he started out believing that Gothic was a German style. In 1846, he authored the first Hungarian monograph on medieval architecture, titled The Old German-Style Churches of Kassa (now Košice). During his study trip to England and France in the years following the War of Independence of 1848-49, Henszlmann became acquainted with French Gothic architecture and noted Villard de Honnecourt's sketchbook. In 1857, he presented his theory in Paris, proposing that Villard had designed none other than the Church of St. Elizabeth in Kassa (Košice) around 1270, during the reign of King Stephen V. While Henszlmann acknowledged that the cathedral in Kassa was ultimately built in a 'German' style, he argued that its foundational plan was distinctly French. This marked the beginning of scholarly investigations into the connections between French Gothic centers and Hungary. Though Henszlmann and subsequent scholars were incorrect about Villard de Honnecourt's role in Hungary, the question continued to resurface over time. A deeper understanding of the emergence of French Gothic in Hungary only became possible after significant archaeological excavations in the 20th century—most notably at the Castle Hill in Esztergom during the 1930s and at the Cistercian Abbey of Pilis in the 1970s. These excavations uncovered key monuments that shed new light on the spread of Gothic architecture in Hungary.

Esztergom, Chapel of the Royal Palace, 1180s

Ernő Marosi was the first to comprehensively analyze the origins of Hungarian Gothic architecture in his influential 1984 monograph, Die Anfänge der Gotik in Ungarn. The work focuses on the late 12th-century buildings of Esztergom and highlights the palace chapel there as perhaps the earliest example of the reception of northern French Gothic architectural innovations east of the Rhine. Marosi's insights served as the foundation for Imre Takács' subsequent research, and it is fitting that Takács dedicated his own work to his late professor, who passed away in 2021. Takács' scholarship represents the culmination of decades of research. It began in the 1990s when, as a curator of the Hungarian National Gallery, he reconstructed the tomb of Queen Gertrude—discovered at Pilis Abbey—using fragments excavated by László Gerevich and preserved in the Gallery. Takács then extended his efforts to a detailed study of the complete carved material from Pilis Abbey and the stone collection of the Castle Museum in Esztergom. Among the fragments in Esztergom, the Porta Speciosa, the former western gate of the cathedral, became a particular focus of his research, leading to his recent publication on the subject. The third major site of Takács' research was Pannonhalma Abbey, where he played a key role as the main organizer of the exhibition celebrating the abbey's 1000th anniversary. He also served as the editor of the comprehensive three-volume catalog published for the occasion in 1996.

Esztergom, Deesis-tympanum, originally on the inside of the Porta Speciosa of the Cathedral

These three sites also feature prominently in the new monograph, The Arrival of French Gothic in Hungary, published this year. The English-language volume is a translation of Imre Takács' 2018 monograph in Hungarian, which came out with the title The Reception of French Gothic in Hungary in the Age of Andrew II. The slightly broader English title is justified by the fact that the buildings of Esztergom in the time of Béla III also play a major role in the volume. At the heart of the monograph is the recognition that in some of the central sites of the Kingdom of Hungary, the structural and formal solutions of French Gothic art appeared much earlier than in other countries of Europe. Imre Takács shows that this is true not only for the time of Béla III and the early Gothic period but also for the time of King Andrew II and the Classical Gothic period, which was fashionable at the time. In addition to Esztergom, Pilis, and Pannonhalma, several important buildings of the early 13th century are mentioned in the text: the cathedral of Kalocsa, the Premonstratensian abbey church of Ócsa, the Cistercian abbey of Topuszkó, etc. Along with goldsmith works, the monograph discusses all the most important surviving evidence of courtly art of the period.

The detailed discussion of the topic begins with the art of the time of Béla III, primarily with the study of the early Gothic elements of the royal palace and the cathedral of Esztergom. It is here that the use of the red marble from the Gerecse hills, which played a major role in the Gothic period, first appeared in Hungary. Takács describes in detail the most important monuments, especially the Porta Speciosa, the main gate of the cathedral, decorated with colored marble decoration. This monument, dating from the end of the 12th century, is contemporary with the first Gothic monuments built in Esztergom, above all the palace chapel. Takács dates this building campaign to the second half of the 1180s and links the appearance of the 'French connection' to the arrival of Queen Margaret of Capet in Hungary in 1186. This construction coincided with the building of the Cistercian priory of Pilis, founded by Béla III in 1184, which is the subject of Takács's next chapter. Construction there lasted until the first decade of the 13th century, after which the French-educated masons who worked there were employed on two important buildings of the period of Andrew II: the new building of the cathedral of Kalocsa, begun around 1210 by Archbishop Bertold of Andechs-Meran, and the Premonstratensian church of Ócsa, built a little earlier (but never fully completed). This chapter describes in detail how Gothic forms spread throughout the Kingdom of Hungary in the decades before the Mongol invasion of 1241, with the cloisters of the royal residence in Óbuda, the abbey of Somogyvár, and Szermonostor as the most important additional examples.

Pannonhalma, abbey church, vaulting of the nave

The fourth part of the volume deals with the most remarkable phenomena from an international point of view: when the French Classical Gothic forms, which were considered modern in their home country, appeared in Hungary in the 1220s. In this respect, Hungary is no longer as unique as it was at the time of the reception of early Gothic in the late 12th century, since the stone carvers and sculptors who set out from the cathedral lodges of the great French cathedrals appeared in several parts of the Holy Roman Empire, such as in Strassburg or Bamberg, as well as in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. In Hungary, one of the key monuments of this phase is the completion of the Benedictine abbey church in Pannonhalma, especially the upper parts of the southern nave wall completed for the consecration in 1224, and the construction of the Porta Speciosa, which is incorporated into this wall. Imre Takács provides detailed evidence of the direct Reims origin of the carvings found here. The conclusions concerning the presence of Reims stone carvers in Hungary before 1224 are of great importance: the date of the consecration in Pannonhalma also allows the rather uncertain chronology of the Reims cathedral at that time to be clarified. 

Detail of the Porta Speciosa at Pannonhalma

In the next section, Takács describes in detail the most important sculptural monument of the period, the fragments of the tomb of Queen Gertrude, who was murdered in 1213. He also shows that the sculptor of these carvings came to the Kingdom of Hungary from the building lodge working on the cathedral in Reims. In this context, the fact that Villard de Honnecourt, who compiled the best-known collection of architectural drawings of the period, also left for Hungary from Reims, around 1220 according to most scholars, is particularly noteworthy. Political connections also explain the links: in particular the family circle of Yolande Courtenay, second wife of Andrew II. A red marble tomb slab with engraved decoration, also found in the abbey church of Pilis, is linked to a member of this family. The style of the tomb is exactly the same as the drawings in Villard de Honnecourt's sketchbook. The final part of the book studies objects of the minor arts, mainly in the field of goldsmith works, which have also occupied the author since the beginning of his career: the seals of the Árpád monarchs, and the analysis of a special 13th-century technique of luxury goldsmith decoration, the so-called opus duplex. 

Fragment of a seated figure from the sarcophagus of Queen Gertrude, 
originally from Pilis Abbey (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest)

All these observations highlight the direct link that existed between the Hungarian royal court and the contemporary centers of French Gothic. The monuments that are given shorter passages in the text, sometimes with only one or two carvings representing French Gothic forms, indicate that the most modern architectural forms were widespread in Hungary in the pre-Mongol period. As we have seen, the question is of great importance not only for the spread of Gothic art in Central Europe but also for a more accurate chronology of French monuments. We can only hope that some of the archaeological research currently underway, especially the excavation of the Cistercian monastery at Egres, which served as the burial site of Andrew II and his wife Yolande, may add further finds to the picture of French art of the period painted by Imre Takács. 

Golden seal of King Andrew II

At this point, it is worth highlighting the research topics of Imre Takács, who has been teaching at the Institute of Art History at ELTE since 2016. In addition to the subjects explored in this volume, which have accompanied his academic career, two additional areas of his research deserve special mention. First, he has extensively studied the history of the construction and carvings of the Gyulafehérvár Cathedral, the only surviving Árpád-era cathedral. Second, he has focused on Hungarian royal monuments, particularly artworks associated with King Sigismund. Takács has written on these topics in The Art of Medieval Hungary, a book co-edited by him and published in English in Rome in 2018. The Rome volume aimed to make the lesser-known material on medieval Hungarian art accessible to the international scholarly community in a clear and structured handbook. It includes a summary of the first century of Hungarian Gothic art, which briefly introduces many of the research findings elaborated in detail in the current monograph. Finally, these findings are presented here in detail and in English. Just as Ernő Marosi's book marked a pivotal moment in the international recognition of Hungarian Gothic art, the publication of Takács' detailed monograph in English is poised to play a similarly significant role in advancing the study of the spread of French Gothic in Europe. Overviews of European Gothic art can now be enriched with new insights into the contributions of the sculptors from Reims who worked in Central Europe, especially in Hungary, including their achievements in Pannonhalma (recent publications often ignored these connections). The monograph also contributes to a clearer interpretation of the Villard de Honnecourt question. For these reasons, the availability of a major synthesis of Imre Takács' scholarly achievements in the language of international scholarship is both very welcome and of great importance. 

Finally, a word about the excellent and high-quality production of this elegant hardcover volume. The book is presented in a different format from the Hungarian edition, featuring 536 pages and 676 high-quality illustrations seamlessly integrated into the text. The way the black-and-white illustrations accompany the text significantly enhances the readability of the volume (a major improvement compared to the Hungarian edition). It should also be noted that the book has been translated by Alan Campbell with exceptional precision and a high linguistic standard. It surely belongs to the shelf of all serious scholars of the Gothic!

In Hungary, the book can currently be purchased at the bookstore of ELTE. It is also possible to contact the publisher, Collegium Professorum Hungarorum (Makovecz Campus Alapítvány) for further information.

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.

Romanesque Stone Carvings Found at Borosjenő Castle

New finds of Romanesque stone carvings were presented by the László Teleki Foundation earlier this week. The carvings were found during reconstruction work at the castle of Borosjenő (Ineu, Romania) in 2016 and 2019. The carvings most likely come from the abbey church of Dénesmonostora, which was located near the castle and was abandoned by the early 16th century. The stone carving were found in walls of the castle dating from the 1530s-1540s. These carving now provide some context from the lone capital decorated with a siren, which had been at the Hungarian National Museum since the 1870s.

The finds shine some light on the rich architecture and culture of a chain of Árpádian era monasteries established along the lower Maros river valley - an area that played a key role in the transportation of salt from Transylvania towards the plains. Perhaps Bizere is the most famous monastery in this region, which had been excavated during recent decades - and which is discussed in an important conference volume on monastic life. More recently, excavations were started at the Cistercian monastery of Egres as well. Dénesmonostora was established for the Augustinian canons, at an unknown date before 1199. 

Siren from Borosjenő (originally Dénesmonostora), Hungarian National Museum

No research on the castle of Borosjenő had been carried out since it was rebuilt in the 1870. The building stood empty since 2004, and the municipality is currently working on rebuilding the castle. Already during the surveys carried out in 2016, it was discovered that the walls incorporate a large number of pre-1200 stone carvings used as building materials. At that time, 9 early carvings were recovered. In 2019, with support of the Rómer Flóris Plan, another 14 smaller or larger stones were found, and dozens more were documented within the walls. This work was carried about by Zsolt Kovács and Attila Weisz, art historians from Cluj.

Borosjenő (Ineu) castle, awaiting restoration

The stone carvings are mainly capitals and bases of columns, decorated with various vegetal carvings in Romanesque style. They most likely date from around the middle of the 12th century, and are very important because from this region nothing similar has been found so far - now these finds can be analyzed through comparisons with carvings from such important ecclesiastiacal centers as Székesfehérvár or Pécs. The excavation of the site of the former monastery is also planned for the near future, which would certainly help place these objects in context.

A final remark: earlier this year I published a brief study on the churches of the Augustinian canons in Hungary, where Dénesmonostora was mentioned, but I could not say much about its church. As these investigations will continue, we will certainly know more about the canons regular in Hungary as well, an order which played an important role in the 12th century monastic reform in Central Europe. 

Photos by Attila Mudrák, used with permission of the László Teleki Foundation.

Museum of Fine Arts Reopens in Budapest

After three years of reconstruction work, the Museum of Fine Arts is now again open for visitors in Budapest. The museumʼs heating and air conditioning system was upgraded, much of the roof replaced, and new exhibition and public spaces created during the renovations, along with new underground storage facilities. The most visible part of the reconstruction of the building is the newly reopened grand Romanesque Hall, which had been closed to the public since 1945. Unfortunately, the great collection of plaster casts is no longer there; the Hall will be used mainly for events. A publication, as well as a special website was dedicated to the history and restoration of the Romanesque Hall.

The Museum of Fine Arts reopened to the public on October 31, 2018. At this time, about half of the permanent exhibitions are ready: the exhibition of Ancient Egypt, the exhibition of Classical Antiquity, the Old Sculpture Collection (European sculpture from 1350-1800) and part of the Old Master's Gallery (European Art 1250-1600). A new addition to the exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts is the Hungarian Baroque exhibition (Art in Hungary 1600-1800) - this is part of the controversial project of merging of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery. In the future, the Museum of Fine Arts will only display Ancient and pre-1800 art, while a new museum will be built for western art after 1800 (see the website of the Liget Budapest project). Hungarian medieval art from the National Gallery will also be moved to the Museum of Fine Arts, where further parts of the permanent exhibitions are scheduled to open in 2019.

A temporary exhibition was also put on display, dedicated to the small bronze statue of a horse and rider, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The exhibition is inside a wonderful space for smaller exhibitions, the Michelangelo Hall, which was also fully restored.

Along with the reconstruction of the museum building, the logo and the website of the Museum were also upgraded. For more information on the permanent exhibitions as well as on the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, head on over there. As an illustration for this post, I am including a photo of a new acquisition by the Museum, a late-fifteenth century Spanish statue of St. Michael, carved by Gil de Siloé. The statue is now on display in the galleries of European art. 

Gil de Siloé: St. Michael. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Online Catalogue of the Christian Museum of Esztergom

Reliquary bust from Cologne. Around 1350

The Christian Museum of Esztergom is the largest ecclesiastical collection in Hungary and is one of the oldest public collections in the nation. It was established in 1875 by Archbishop and Prince Primate János Simor (1813-1891) and was based on his private collection. The intention of the Archbishop was to make known to the general public old and new treasures of art, and thereby cultivate the aesthetic taste of the visitors. Archbishop Simor purchased works of art primarily from legacies and during his travels abroad. He also had parts of medieval altarpieces collected from the territory of the Archdiocese of Esztergom. Following Primate Simor’s death in 1891, the Museum’s collections grew significantly when the bequest of Arnold Ipolyi, Bishop of Nagyvárad/Oradea (1823-1886), which consisted mainly of late medieval Italian, German, Austrian and Hungarian paintings and sculptures, finally arrived to Esztergom in 1920. The resulting museum is the third most significant historic picture gallery in Hungary, on account of its Hungarian, Italian, Netherlandish, German and Austrian paintings.

As one of the results of a research project financed by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA PD 104215), an exhaustive online summary catalogue of the Hungarian, German and Austrian Late Medieval Collection of the Christian Museum was published online. This is one of the most famous parts of the collections, containing among others the altarpiece from Garamszentbenedek, painted by Thomas de Coloswar in 1427, or four panels depicting scenes from the Passion and painted by the enigmatic Master MS in 1506. Already in the middle of the 19th century, both János Simor and Arnold Ipolyi recognized the significance of these medieval works of art, most of which were not in use any more. Simor brought to the museum painted fragments of winged altarpieces that had been dismantled, primarily from the Benedictine Abbey of Garamszentbenedek (Hronsky Benadik). Sculptures in the museum mainly come from the Ipolyi collection, along with the majority of medieval Austrian and German works of art.

The Calvary altarpiece of Thomas of Coloswar, 1427 

The research project and the online catalogue was realized by Emese Sarkadi Nagy, who explained to me that in the present catalogue there was no intention to separate objects originating from the Hungarian Kingdom from those of the German and Austrian territories. This is partly due to the fact that these groups of objects can be considered as a unit, based on numerous art historical and stylistic relations that can be observed among them. Mid-15th century Netherlandish art had a very strong impact on the painting and sculpture of German and Austrian regions as well as in Hungary, and the migration of masters among these regions is also a well-known phenomenon. Moreover, most of the works coming from nineteenth-century collections have lost their original, medieval context and thus the original provenance of a number of objects is uncertain. Attribution and localization based on stylistic analysis alone is often impossible  - for example it is hard to decide if a work of a Viennese-schooled master was created in Hungary or the work was imported at a later time. Therefore, the new online catalogue offers an overview of all (ca. 150) objects originating from these Central European regions. It is aimed not only for specialists, but also to the wider public; at the same time, it will hopefully represent a starting point for further research on the topic. Each entry is accompanied by an up-to-date bibliography and other information, as well as high-quality photographs (individual panels and statues of altarpieces are each photographed and described separately). So far, the catalogue is only available in Hungarian, but an English version is to be published online soon. The catalogue is accessible through the website of the museum at the following link: www.keresztenymuzeum.hu

Master MS: Crucifixion, 1506 

Key objects from the collection are also available in the general part of the website, with English descriptions, but for new and up-to-date information, as well as for the entire material, head to the online catalogue. Links below:

Overview of Hungarian late medieval works (in English)

Overview of Austrian and German medieval painting and sculpture (in English)

Full catalogue of Central European medieval painting and sculpture (in Hungarian, for now)

Sarkadi Nagy Emese: A Keresztény Múzeum középkori magyarországi, a német és osztrák tartományokból származó tárgyainak online katalógusa. Keresztény Múzeum, 2017. (Online catalogue of medieval objects in the Christian Museum originating from Hungary as well as German and Austrian territories. Christian Museum, Esztergom, 2017.)

The text above is based on the website of the Christian Museum and on a short report by Emese Sarkadi Nagy. Photos by Attila Mudrák © Christian Museum

Austrian painter, c. 1440: Triptych with the Death of the Virgin

Conference on Medieval Esztergom

18th century painting of the Porta Speciosa
of Esztergom cathedral 

There will be a conference on May 28th 2015, at Esztergom, dedicated to medieval history and art of the city, which was Hungary's first capital. Titled "Metropolis Hungariae," the conference will feature a number of internationally known Hungarian scholars, who will speak about recent archaeological research in the town and new art historical work. The focus of the conference will be the Árpád period, perhaps the most important period in the town's history. Art historical lectures will primarily discuss the architecture and sculpture of the medieval cathedral of the town.

The conference presents a good opportunity for visiting Esztergom, where the permanent exhibition in the former royal palace has been reinstalled and the restoration of the palace chapel has been fully completed (I already reported on this last year).

The full program can be seen below.

New medieval exhibition at the Hungarian National Gallery

Maria gravida, Vienna, 1409
see in high resolution 

I haven't had time to upload anything here for over a month - but a lot has happened in Hungary in the field of medieval art. I will try to catch up with a series of brief posts. First, I would like to report on the new medieval exhibition of the Hungarian National Gallery, which was completely reinstalled and opened at the end of September. This part of the permanent exhibition focuses on painting and sculpture from Hungary and neighboring areas in the 14th and 15th centuries. Some of the highlights of the collection can be seen here, including two statues of the Virgin of Child from Toporc, the two beautiful statues of female saints from Barka, or a painting originally showing the St. Joseph's Doubt (now cut down to only show the Virgin, see left). The exhibition was reinstalled to focus on the original liturgical context of these artworks, and therefore also includes a number of other liturgical objects - mainly goldsmith works on loan from the Hungarian National Museum. The new exhibition presents the material in a chronological-regional arrangement. The last section includes several complete altarpieces, thereby preparing the visitor for the next section of the permanent exhibition, where the monumental late Gothic altarpieces can be seen. That section has also been slightly rearranged recently, with the new installation of the main altar from Kisszeben.

The new exhibition, which provides a greatly improved space for the objects and a clear narrative for visitors, is definitely a must-see for anyone interested in medieval art. Organized by curator Györgyi Poszler, the exhibition also includes a number of works previously never shown, This was made possible by the continuous work of restorers during the last few decades. Readers familiar with Hungarian are encouraged to consult a new publication by the Hungarian National Gallery, which is dedicated to the most important restorations carried out between 1957-2011. The publication is available online from this link. In addition, you can see selected objects from this part of the collection on the website of the Hungarian National Gallery. The exhibition of Renaissance stone carvings (the area of which was unfortunately partially taken over by the museum shop) was also reinstalled - but the medieval stone carvings are still not on view (following the theft three years ago).

Here are some images of the new exhibition, provided by the Hungarian National Gallery.

New exhibitions at Pannonhalma

For several decades now, the Benedictine Archabbey at Pannonhalma has also served as an important exhibition venue. Perhaps most memorable for medievalists was the 2001 exhibition dedicated to Benedictines in Medieval Hungary, and titled Paradisum plantavit. For a long time, there has been a permenant exhibition space in the abbey as well, but only a very small part of the abbey's collection was on view. This year, a new abbey museum and visitor center opened at Pannonhalma, in the former manor building belonging to the abbey. This museum is the home of a new permanent exhibition of the abbey, and includes an exhibition of medieval stone carvings from Pannonhalma, as well as a good selection from the collections of the abbey. The new space created an opportunity to display some elements of the medieval building which were previously not visible, such as elements from the 13th century cloisters of the abbey (which was rebuilt in the late 15th century). The collections of the abbey include goldsmith works, important manuscripts, a good ensemble of paintings, sculptures and liturgical objects, among other artworks. The new exhibition was arranged by Imre Takács, noted medieval art historian and the curator of major exhibition at Pannonhalma in 1996 and 2001. This collection can be browsed online as well - in a database which at the moment seems to be available only in Hungarian.

Stone carvings from Pannonhalma at the new museum

Fragments of the 13th century cloister

In 2014, visitors also get a chance to visit two intertwined exhibitions. Since March 2014 the exhibition Icons and Relics: Veneration of Images between East and West (March 21 – November 11,2014) can be visited in the in the “old” exhibition hall of the monastery. Another exhibition opened in July in the newly opened Abbey Manor Visitor Centre and Museum. Titled Image and Christianity: Visual Media in the Middle Ages (July 10 – November 11, 2014), which focuses on western European liturgical art. To cite the curator, Péter Bokody: "The aim of the exhibitions is to show to the viewer the various forms and media of image-worship in medieval Christianity. The exhibition Icons and Relics presents the intertwined history of image-worship in the East and West through a comparison of the cult of images and the cult of relics, together with the genesis of the painted panel. The exhibition Image and Christianity focuses on the same development from the perspective of the visual media in the Middle Ages, where the spread of the painted panel in the West is interpreted in the context of mosaics, stained glass, murals and book illumination. The point of intersection between the two is the Latin Sack of Constantinople in 1204, since both the intensified forms of image-worship and the visual medium of the painted panel became central in Western Christianity after that."

The exhibition "Icons and relics"

Glimpse into the exhibition "Image and Christianity"

In addition to important loans from the major museums of Hungary, the exhibitions also features a number of international loans (primarily from Austria and Croatia), providing a nice overview medieval artworks in the service of liturgy. The highlights of the exhibition Icons and Relics are the 12th century head reliquary of Saint Coloman (Benedictine Abbey, Melk), and 14th century reliquaries from Zadar. In the exhibition Image and Christianity the various medieval visual media are presented by 12th century mosaics (Museo Torcello, Torcello), 15th century stained glass windows (Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz), 14th century fresco fragments (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), 15th century painted panels (Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest), and 11th-15th century codices, as well as ivory carvings and other works. 

800 Years of Ják Abbey

Fresco of St. George at Ják, c. 1256 

This weekend - the weekend after Saint George's Day - mark the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the Benedictine monastery of Ják. It is known that the monastery was established by Márton "the Great" comes from the Ják kindred some time before 1223 (when its abbot was first mentioned). Circumstantial evidence puts the date of this foundation to the year 1214. The abbey church was dedicated to St. George, who was a favoured saint in Hungary during the late Árpádian period, and one particularly liked by the Ják kindred. The abbey church, built in late Romanesque style, was finally dedicated in 1256. Construction thus lasted for a few decades, and was not without interruption. The church is one of the most monumental examples of early thirteenth century monasteries erected by noble families in Hungary - other examples include Lébény or Türje. It was built as a three-aisled basilica, with a massive western part with two towers and a gallery between them. Construction started on the northern side, then continued on the southern side in the second phase. After a change of plan it was decided to vault the entire church, and it was in this phase that the western area was also built. This phase of the work - during the 1230s - is characterised by strong connections with the building workshop of Bamberg cathedral. In the end, the church was not fully finished as planned - work was interrupted either by the Mongol invasion (1241-42), or by the death of Márton comes in 1250. The central and southern aisle of the nave was not vaulted, only covered with a flat wooden ceiling - but the church was considered finished by the 1256 consecration. The western portal of the church, as well as its additional carved decoration, and also its painted decoration make the church one of the most important 13th century monuments from Hungary. The rotunda standing next to the abbey church was also built in the 13th century, around 1260.

Ják abbey church. From Wikimedia Commons

The church was restored several times, most extensively between 1896-1906. The massive stone spires of the towers, and the vault of the central aisle were added at this time. Literature on the church is extensive, especially in Hungarian and German.  You can find some photos on this website, including images taken before the late 19th century restoration.

More recently, the exterior of the church was cleaned. With the current festivities celebrating eight centuries of the Abbey, the goal of the organizers is to raise money for the restoration of the frescoes in the church, especially the fresco of St. George painted on the wall of the main apse. You can read my study on these frescoes, from a 2001 catalogue dedicated to Benedictines in medieval Hungary (the study is in Hungarian).

The western portal before 1896

Other online resources, mainly in Hungarian:

Technical analysis of the sculptures of the west portal

Photos in Wikimedia Commons and on the website of Pázmány Péter University.

Study and photos on the templom.hu website, data on the műemlékem.hu website.

Gallery of Medieval Art at the National Museum in Warsaw

Photo: MNW

The National Museum in Warsaw (MNW) has one of the largest collections of medieval art in the region, which has been on view in a new installation since the end of last year (the gallery opened on December 11, 2013). Last week I finally had a chance to spend again a few days in Warsaw, and went to see the exhibition. Then I went back for a more detailed look - there is so much to see that one visit is definitely not enough. The exhibition is located on the ground floor of the museum, and takes up about 800 square meters in three large halls. These rooms are full of the best of late medieval art from the territory of modern Poland, while also include a few other works from other parts of Europe.

The altarpiece from Grudziadz

The first room provides a rather dramatic entry for the entire exhibition. It is a wide hall, where two lines of statues divide the room as if in a three-aisled church, and at the center, directly opposite the entrance is one of the largest altarpieces in the museum. The dark environment contributes to the church-like feel of the hall. This first room displays the earliest works in the collection, including Romanesque sculpture, as well as what is called  the Inter-regional Art of Northern Europe in the 14th-15th centuries. There are a number of French and German statues here, but the most important works come from the territory of Silesia - which at the time was a possession of the Crown of Bohemia. The international connections are also illustrated by such works as the carving of Three Marys from a Crucifixion-group, carved in alabaster by the Rimini Master, and coming from a church in Wroclaw.

Beautiful Madonna from Wroclaw

 Among a number of late Gothic statues stemming from Wroclaw (Breslau), one can also admire the famous Beautiful Madonna from Wroclaw - made either there or in Bohemia at the end of the 14th century. The large altarpiece in the center of the arrangement comes from Grudziadz (Graudenz) in Pomerania, from a chapel of the Teutonic Knights. It is one of the most refined painted altarpieces of the International Gothic Style, dating from 1390 (or maybe somewhat later). The installation enables one to study all the paintings on the altarpiece, including the Passion-scenes of the first opened stage of the altar, and the Life of the Virgin scenes on the fully opened altar. Other works in the room - originating from Gdansk (Danzig) round out the rich demonstration of the International Gothic.

The next section of the exhibition (in the second, long exhibition gallery) focuses on Wroclaw and Silesia at the middle of the 15th century, with the St. Barbara Altarpiece from 1447 as the main work here. Proceeding chronologically, the next highlight is the Polyptych of the Annunciation with the Unicorn, a wlarge altarpiece from around 1480. As the visitor turns and enters the third long room, artworks from Silesia dating from the the decades around 1500 can be studied, among them the unpainted limewood relief of St. Luke Painting the Virgin by Jakob Beinhart. This sophisticated carving, based on a woodcut by Veit Stoss, demonstrates the very high level of artistic achievement in Wroclaw at the end of the 15th century.

St. Luke Painting the Virgin, by Jakob Beinhart

The Church of St. Elizabeth at Kassa/Košice - Review of a monograph

Kassa, Church of St. Elizabeth, southern facade 

In recent years, western scholars have shown a much welcome interest in the art of medieval Hungary. In the past the vast majority of studies were published by Hungarian scholars in Hungarian only, thus having little influence beyond the Hungarian-speaking world. Recognizing the problem, art museums in Hungary some time ago began publishing works in at least one other language besides Hungarian – a relevant case in point is the catalogue of the 2006 Sigismund-exhibition, published in German and French versions as well. Recently, more and more monographic works have been published in English or German – primarily by Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian scholars, but also in increasing number by people for whom this is not native territory. The most recent sign of this is the monograph of Tim Juckes on the church of St. Elizabeth in Kassa (Košice, Kaschau, SK), which is based on the author’s doctoral dissertation defended at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He has already published a number of studies about the subject, but now the results of his research are published by a major publisher in the form of a 292 page long monograph. Hopefully, this publishing activity – including the future work of Tim Juckes as well – will eventually lead to a point where this part of Europe will no longer be a terra incognita on the map of medieval Europe.

West facade of the church in the 1846 monograph of Henszlmann

One of the challenges in Hungarian medieval art history is the fragmentary evidence. To get a clear picture a considerable amount of reconstruction is needed. The term “reconstruction” applies in every sense of the word, as much of medieval Hungary and its built heritage were obliterated by the occupation of a large part of Hungary by the Ottoman Turks in 1541. Even greater destruction took place at the time of the sieges of re-conquest in the seventeenth century and during the rebuilding and modernization that took place after. Although the Church of St Elizabeth in Kassa escaped the destruction of the Turkish wars, the original monument was all but obliterated during the late 19th century purist renovation. Thus even here, the first task of the art historian is to virtually reconstruct the original building – this time back to its true medieval stage, which was quite different from that constructed in 1877. 

There is no question that the church of St. Elizabeth, the second building of the parish church of Kassa, is one of the most important surviving medieval churches in the Kingdom of Hungary. The importance of the church has been long recognized: it was the subject of the first book ever written on Hungarian medieval art: Imre Henszlmann’s 1846 study on the medieval churches of Kassa. When Henszlmann first wrote about the building, the late Gothic style of its construction period was seen as an aberration from the classical Gothic standards or, at best, as a preparatory phase for the Renaissance. This led to two mistakes: an early dating of the building which had very little to do with historical reality, and also a drastic rebuilding at the end of the 19th century, according to “true principles of Gothic architecture” (1877-1896). This view of late Gothic art changed only in the early twentieth century with the recognition of the autonomous development in Northern art and with the emergence of the concept of the Sondergotik in German-Austrian scholarship. At this time Kassa, which in 1920 ended up outside the borders of modern Hungary, also received more and more attention, as one of the better preserved medieval urban centres, by both Hungarian and Slovak scholars.

Plan of the church before the restoration

However, the period of King Sigismund (1387-1437) did not enter the focus of research until 1937, when Henrik Horváth completed the first extensive intellectual and artistic history of the age of Sigismund. After World War II, large-scale excavations and reconstruction work carried out in medieval towns such as Sopron and Buda demonstrated the cross-border connections that existed between various Central European centres. Examples include the role of members of the Prague Parler workshop on the church of Our Lady and the royal castle at Buda, or the influence of Viennese ateliers in towns in north-western Hungary like Pozsony [Bratislava, SK] and Sopron. It was only in the 1970s-80s that the importance of the Sigismund period was truly recognized. At that time, more and more attention was paid to the Kassa’s international connections as well. Although the church and its history has been the subject of a lot of research, the medieval building of the church has never been the subject of a monograph until the present work by Juckes. Closest to a monograph is the series of studies by Ernő Marosi, which, however, never appeared in a book form. The selection of this topic by Juckes – likely suggested by the advisor of his dissertation, Paul Crossley – is thus much welcome.

In this new monograph, Tim Juckes first surveys the documentary evidence and the historiography of the church of St. Elizabeth, before embarking on a new analysis of the building and its history. The structure of the book is clear and logical: it helps us to understand the medieval building, virtually restoring it from beneath the layers of 19th century transformations. The first chapter provides an overview of the 19th century rebuilding of the church as well as a brief survey of previous scholarly literature and opinions on the structure. After this the time machine is turned on, and we travel back to the 14th century, to study the history of the town and its parish church, based on a careful analysis of written sources, urban topography, patronage and building lodge. We then start to move forward, following the chronology of construction.

The Medieval University of Pécs

General view of the site north of the cathedral
Photo: muemlekem.hu 

Hungary's first university was founded in 1367 at Pécs, with faculties of philosophy, law and medicine (no theology). The university was created by the bishop of Pécs, Vilmos (William), with royal support and by a decree of Pope Urban V. The university was short-lived: already in 1395, King Sigismund created a new insitution at Óbuda, and the school at Pécs stopped working some time in the early 15th century (the University of Óbuda was unsuccessful, too). It is believed that the buildings of the University were located on the north side of cathedral, where in the 12-13th centuries the bishop's palace was erected. Indeed, excavations carried out there in 1980s unearthed a large Gothic building, built on the remains of an earlier, Romanesque structure. The topography of this area, however is rather complicated: among other structures the remains of a 14th-century chapel: the so-called Gilded Chapel of Our Lady (mentioned as such in a charter of Pope Boniface IX in 1401: capella deaurata beate Marie Virginis), founded by Bishop Nicholas (1346-1360). Remains of the chapel and the university dissapeared during the Ottoman Turkish conquest and the wars ensuing (Pécs was occupied in 1543).

The chapel and other remains on the north side of the cathedral were unearthed by Mária Sándor between 1978-1987). Among the most important finds on the site were the extraordinarily fine statues stemming from the former chapel. After this for many decades, the remains of the buildings stood under temporary roofs, while the sculptural fragments from the chapel languished in storage at the local county museum. There were many attempts to make the site accessible, but there was never any money for it - not even during preparations for 2010, when Pécs was European Capital of Culture (when a new visitor center was built for the Early Christian ruins, also located near the cathedral).

Fragment of a stone retable from the Gilded Chapel of Our Lady

 Last year, however, something finally happened - there was a brief new archaeological campaing to clarify some questions, and it was announced that the site will be opened to the public by this year. Along this process a lot of additional medieval architectural fragments have been recovered in the area, especially inside the later walls encircling the complex.

The area is now managed by the Hungarian State Holding Company, and a significant amount was set aside for the erection of a new protective building for the remains of the university and the chapel. In June it was announced that that the university building is ready for visitors, apart from some minor internal restoration tasks. The walls of the medieval fortress structure surrounding the cathedral complex have also been strengthened and a new walkway is being created around them. The opening of this area is scheduled for September, 2012. With this step finally the whole cathedral complex will be accessible to visitors, together with the very rich holdings of medieval sculpture and other remains. I wrote briefly before about the cathedral and the adjacent Cathedral Museum, which holds the Romanesque sculptures from the cathedral. The new area will make accessible the equally significant Gothic remains of Pécs.

Glimpse inside the new museum building at the site
Photo: muemlekem.hu 

Additional reading:

Reports on a research project coordinated by Mária Sándor in 2001-2006, dedicated to the remains of the university and the chapel (with bilbiography).

The MA Thesis of Veronika Csikós, submitted at CEU Budapest in 2008, can be downloaded from the website of the University. The thesis deals with the statues of the Gilded Chapel of Our Lady.

A brief introduction to the site on the Pécs portal.

More information is available in Hungarian at the following sites:

Report on the discovery of carved stones last year, in the online heritage magazine, Műemlékem.hu.

Report on the new excavations at the chapel, on the online journal for medieval archaeology (Archeologia - Altum Castrum Online Magazin), maintained by the Visegrád Palace Museum (with a more detailed report by Gergely Buzás, a PDF-file with lots of images).

An image gallery on the website of the local online newspaper, showing the site in May 2012.