Entz Géza Antal - Sisa József (szerk.): Fejér megye művészeti emlékei - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 34. (Székesfehérvár, 1998)

Rövidítések a címszavakban - Rövidítések a bibliográfiában

Vál, Csabái or Kerekszenttamás. The ruined castle at Csókakő is a unique structure of its kind in the county, just like the massive, so-called Kula tower at Szabadbattyán.

The destruction of the medieval buildings and villages was caused by the Turkish invasion and the subsequent Turkish occupation of the area in the 16th and 17th centuries. As Fejér county lay in the path of the advancing armies, it was repeatedly devastated. The Turks built palisaded fortresses at strategic locations along the Danube (Ercsi, Adony, Pentele; they vanished later), but large sections of the county became depopulated wasteland.

After the liberation of the county and Hungary from Turkish rule a great number of new settlers were brought in, mostly Germans, fewer Slovaks. In the 18th century the county recovered gradually, villages and churches were built. The first Catholic churches were built by monastic orders, such as the Capuchin church in Mór (1695-1701 ; remodelled in the 19th century) and later several churches were erected or sponsored by the Jesuits. At some places convents were also built, e.g. those of the Jesuits at Pázmánd (1718-19) and the Capuchins at Bodajk (1727-42). Later aristocratic and state sponsored parish churches were established.

Whatever their institutional background, Catholic churches constructed in the 18th and early 19th centuries were fairly homogeneous in their plan and elevation. They were invariably longitudinal, comprising a single nave and a sanctuary. The sanctuary was usually narrower than the nave and its end was straight, curved or polygonal. The single tower surmounted by an elaborate spire was either attached to the main facade or was flush with it. The facade was ornamented with pilasters and occasionally (e.g. at Bodajk, Pázmánd, Vértesacsa) also with sculptures. The nave usually contained two to four bays of domical vaults, supported by pilasters and a heavy cornice along the walls. The type described above was identical with most other Baroque country churches in Hungary and in central Europe. A notable exception in Fejér county is the parish church at Aba (1748-53, now without a nave and tower), whose large sancuary has a triangular plan as a reference to the Holy Trinity, to which the church is dedicated. Aba, Ercsi, Martonvásár and Vértesacsa are the few churches which still have 18th century ceiling or mural paintings. The churches of Aba, Bodajk, Előszállás, Ercsi and Szár are notable for their precious Baroque furnishings. At some places Baroque statues independent of churches also survive, such as the statue of St. Vendel at Kálóz, the statue of St. John of Nepomuk at Velence, and the calvaries at Bodajk and Mór.

Some 18th century churches are known to have been designed by Székesfehérvár architects, while most others are anonymous. In the first half of the 19 th century some outstanding Neo-Classical churches were built from designs by Viennese and Pest architects, commissioned by local aristicrats. The parish church of Vál (1819-24) by Josef Franz Engel is the most important of them. Its monumental, towerless facade animated by a tetrastyle portico is similar to the parish church and mausoleum of the Esterházy family at Nagyganna, built by Engel from Charles Moreau's design, while the nave is covered by a single barrel vault. The parish church of Lovasberény (1832-34) by József Hild is a templum in antis with a Greek cross plan. The church at Enying (1838-41) by Alois Pichl is a remarkable example of the traditional plan type complete with an elegant portico and a coffered barrel vault.

Large Protestant stone churches with towers could be built only after the Edict of Tolerance of 1781. Their plan was invariable longitudinal, their end being either straight or, following Catholic models but not Protestant liturgy, curved or polygonal. The monumental tower on the main facade vied with Catholic structures of the same kind. Most Calvinist churches had galleries along the walls of the nave, and sometimes also a single transept. The less numerous Lutheran churches did not deviate from the longitudinal plan type.

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