Folia Historica 32. (Budapest, 2017)

I. TANULMÁNYOK - Kollár Csilla: Középkori miseruhák kutatás- és gyűjtéstörténetéről a Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum Textilgyűjteményének néhány kiemelkedő darabja kapcsán

ON THE RESEARCH AND COLLECTING HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL VESTMENTS THROUGH OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES FROM THE TEXTILE COLLECTION OF THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

Summary

A growing interest in mediaeval textiles appears in the middle of the 19th century. Franz Bock, canon of Aachen was amongst the first to devote attention to artistic fabrics and high-quality embroidery still in possession of the Church. He presented the discovered heritage in several publications, organized exhibitions, and delivered the objects to public collections. His life and work, the main pursuit of which was to renew religious art in the mediaeval spirit and develop textile industry, greatly contributed to the recognition and preservation of textile objects extent in Hungary.

Flóris Römer and Kornél Divald are just a few names amongst those who aimed to explore and save mediaeval art treasures. Travelling around the country, they regularly gave account of the significant mediaeval relics hidden in church sacristies. These objects, later on view at exhibits, slowly found their way into museum collections. Collecting them was an important and pressing issue, as by the end of the century the precious fabrics and embroideries also won the attention of art trade. Letters held by the archives of the Hungarian National Museum tell about the acquisition of mediaeval paramentums for public collections, as well as the urgent, and at times overdue, nature of the process. The research history of two excellent pieces, the vestments of Sztropkó and Kőszeg very well exemplifies how these works were first approached in analogy with painting, described and assessed through the tropes of high art. A new scientific attitude valuing decorative arts on their own merits and concentrating on the particular characteristics of applied and liturgical objects emerges at the end of the 20th century. By involving conservators and experts of natural sciences, researchers gained knowledge about new layers of mediaeval relics. Today, these delicate and rare art treasures may stand before us as some sort of hard disks, bearing information about their production, use, alterations and subsistence.

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