Kisné Cseh Julianna (szerk.): Annales Tataienses III. Régészeti adatok Tata történetéhez 1. (A Tatán 1999-ben megtartott tudományos ülésszakon elhangzott előadások anyaga). Mecénás Közalapítvány, Tata, 2003.

Bíró Endre: Brigetio katonavárosi falfestmény régészeti renkonstrukciója

The reconstruction of the mythological scenes was the most difficult task, since usually only 20-30 percent of the picture fields were recovered. It took more than 9 months until I could be certain that the fragments belonged to a single room and ten mythological scenes could be reconstructed. (Probably there used to be 2-3 more scenes, but there were too few fragments.) This was the first phase of the reconstruction. In this phase I could determine the exact places of the doors. I could not exactly locate the window, but it certainly opened at the edge of the longitudinal wall facing the door. The determination of the length of the room was decisive. The reconstruction had already proved that red and yellow fields alternated on the longitudinal wall. Here I decided to place six fields, which proved right, since after the reconstruction of the ceiling only a 15-20 cm discrepancy appeared. In the second phase of the archaeological reconstruction I rejoined as many fragments as I could. This was carried out first of all after the comparison of the painted surfaces. I felt lucky when 15-20 items that could be rejoined. The backside of the plaster also helped as it preserved the imprints of the adobe wall. This is why the old restoration practice when the fragments were imbedded into plaster or the original plaster was carved off, was inappropriate. This was the reason why I asked for a restoration method that left the fragments intact. The next step was the reconstruction of the ceiling. First I made a theoretical sketch. In 1965 I defined the ornament for the jury as a network pattern with two larger medallions in the centre and each three smaller ones at the edges. This is the only way it could be proportionate with the measurements. It turned out at this point that the barrel vault joined the longitudinal walls with a horizontal band filled in with circles and stylistic floral ornaments. This ceiling solution appeared on the structure of the shorter walls as well. The unique archaeological and art historical monument, the result of the reconstruction can be seen in the exhibition of the Kuny Domokos Museum. 145