Folia archeologica 23.

Ferenc Fülep – György Duma: Examinations of the Wall Paintings in the Cella Trichora of Pécs

CELLA TRICHORA OF PÉCS 21 I whereas in the eleventh-century Achtala church of the Caucasus straw was used.

20 A manual, collecting the prescriptions of old masters, originating from the 16th century says that to the basic coating of wall paintings pounded birch bark, flour and barley should be added to the lime pulp and the mixture should be cooked. The result is a glue-like strong adhesive.

2

1 Presumably this old tradition is reflected by the seeds and stem parts found in the second layer of wall paintings in the cella trichora of Pécs. In our view the origins of the painted curtain pattern on the second layer have to be sought in Greco-Bvzantine fresco painting. This is suggested first of all by the ornamentation on the curtain pattern that was developed from the Kufic letters. We have mentioned those views including our own earlier opinion that the origin of the curtain pattern may be traced to the mid-ninth century and may be related to one of the data concerning Pécs in the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum.

21

a But this is completely excluded by the fact that Kufic letters i.e. the ornamental motif deriving from them does not appear in Greece itself in the ninth century and we trace the origins of the ornamentation in Pécs there.

2

2 As far as the definition of the age of the curtain pattern is concerned, as it was originally recommended by T. Nagy,

2

3 we have to start our inferences from the ribbon ornamented with the Kufic pattern.

2

4 At the beginning of the century K. Mitchel and A. Struck

2

5 had dealt with the architectural questions of the Panagia Gorgoepekoos church of Athens and among others also with the external ornamentations consisting of Kufic letters. They dated the construction of the church to the turn of the eight-ninth centuries or at the most to the early ninth century. But the most recent research has gone beyond their results.

2

6 The spread of Kufic pattern in Greece is generally related to the Arab conquest a consequence of which was the occupation of Crete by the Arabs in 8 27.

2

7 Arab conquest had reach2

0 Stawicki, S., Technika sciennych malowide! bizantyjsko-ruskich. I. Ochrona Zabytków 23 (1970) pp. 27 iff and further lit. 2

1 Ibid. pp. 27off. ; Dmitriev, J11. N., Zametki po tekhnike russkikh stennykh rospisej X-XII vv (Zhivopis i mozaika) Ezhegodnik Instituta Istorii Iskusstv 1954. pp. 238-278. 21

a MGH Script. XI. (Hannover 1854) p. 12. 35. 2

2 Perhaps the only exception is the frieze made of brick at the church of Kripou that is dated by J. Strzygowski to 873-874. Bercbem, M.-Strzygowski, ]., Amida. (Heidelberg, 1910) pp. 365fr.; Miles, G. C., Byzantium and Arabs: Relations in Creta and the Aegean Area. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18. (Washington 1964) p. 29 : to the late 9th century. - Strzygowski considers that carved slab as the oldest relic with Kufic inscription that was found in Hosios Loukas, in the so-called Romanos tomb (959-963). Bercbem, M.-Strzygowski, J

., op. cit. p. 375.; Soteriou, G., Arabika leipsana en Ethenais kata tous byzantinous chronous. Praktika tes Akademias Athénon 4 (1929) p. 271. 2

3 Nagy, T., Szépművészet 1941. p. 147. 2

4 Without penetrating into the development of Arabic scripts, we refer to Grobmann, A., Arabische Paläographie. I. Ost. Akad. d. Wiss. Phil.-hist. Klasse Denkschr. 94,1. (Wien 1967) on p. 55 speaks about the survival of the Kufic pattern from the 8th to 14th century. 2

5 Michel, K.-Struck, A., Die mittelbyzantinischen Kirchen Athens. AM 31 (1906) pp. 3 21 ff. 2<i Sheppard, C. F., The Art Bullatin 1969. pp. i68ff. 2

7 Setton, K. M., On The Raids of the Moslems in the Aegean in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries and their Alleged Occupation of Athens. AJA 58 (1954) pp. 31 iff and further lit. Enumerates those as well, who suggest other dates for the conquest of Crete. ; Miles, G. C., op. cit. p. I i.