A Debreceni Déri Múzeum Évkönyve 1975 (Debrecen, 1976)

Művészettörténet - Sápi Lajos: Figural Decorative Painting in a Debrecen-Calvinist Church

Lajos Sápi FIGURAL DECORATIVE PAINTING IN A DEBRECEN - CALVINIST CHURCH In Debrecen, where the once famous fairs were held, at the eastern end of the former Nagy Czegléd utca (to-day: Kossuth utca) a block consisting of seven housing estates was built already in the 16-17

th century on the area that became available by the displacement of the town's boundary ditch. Due to repeated conflagrations (in 1811 the fire broke out three times

!) this block was destroyed together with a major part of Debrecen. According to the new city plan approved in 1802 the area remained unbuilt. As a proof of their affection towards Debrecen, István Szombathy (1736-1810), former chief justice of the town, and his wife, Zsuzsanna Veresmarthy (1745-1819) have made a foundation for a Calvinist church to be built of. The town-council appointed in 1827 the above-mentioned unbuilt area for this purpose, and the new church was actually built in neogothic style according to the plans of Prof. Sámuel Petz in the years 1886-1887. With its fine tower and its animated body the new church embellished the aspect of the town, while the red and yellow brick cover soon became a model for both private and public buildings. Similar to the traditional and uniform style of the exterior are the ogival uprising arches of the interior. The equipment of the church is also worthy of the inside construction. While carefully constructing this stylistic unity, the architect also made the plans for the decorative painting which was supposed to cover the plastered mural surfaces but was actually not carried out on account of money shortage. On June 10 1888 the church was opened, with plain uncoloured inside plaster-work. However, a feeling of want was rised by the disproportion between the magnificent inside construction and the unpainted plastered surfaces. With reference to historical traditions of Calvinism the decorative painting was hotly debated because the numerous opponents preferred simple lime-washing to any other decoration. Pastor Mihály Baja, a famous poet of Debrecen, organized a large campaign and a collection in favour of coloured painting and was assisted by his curates and by Professor dr. Sándor Csikesz. Earlier decorative and figurái paintings in Hungarian Calvinist churches were also recited as evidence. In spite of the protests and with the support of many progressive-minded clergymen the decorative painting was finally accomplished in 1936 by the artist Jenő Haranghy who had already painted a large fresco for the Debrecen mortuary in 1931-32. The spiritual contents of the decorative painting were prepared by dr. Sándor Csikesz. The central main space of the church is covered by a dome with rising arch; between the prosilient figured ribs of the vault a figured painting appears in shades ranging from brown to bright yellow, the sectors meeting in the centre of the vault in a bright aureole. Together with the patterns the painting represents symbolically the starlit canopy of heaven. The richly coloured roof painting enhances the altitude of the rising arch. In the four lightcoloured spherical triangles in the corners of the vault there are allegoric figures corresponding to the quotations on the mural surfaces underneath; their lively colour effect reinforces the impression of the lofty vault. On the other vaults and mural surfaces of the church there are similar figurái decorative paintings with vigorously outlined Hungarian patterns. In spite of the favourable reaction of the competent public the painting was also criticized, and so Pastor dr. Imre Révész, the later Bishop of the Transtibiscine Church District, published in the periodical „Lelkészegyesület" (19 June 1937) an article, where he explained and supported the painting. Later the initiative of Debrecen (the first in the whole country) was accepted by the people at large, and in 1948 the church of Körmend belonging to the greatest opponent, to the Transdanubian Church District, was painted by Jenő Haranghy with similar figular decorations.