K. Palágyi Sylvia szerk.: Balácai Közlemények 2008/10. (Veszprém, 2008)
KIRCHHOF, ANITA: The decorative system and reconstruction of the red dining room at Baláca - A balácai vörös ebédlő dekorációs rendszere és rekonstrukciója
The wall-painting fragments under discussion, mentioned at that time still as having a "Pompeian" red background colour, together with the ones having yellow- and black background colour belonged to the I st group. 16 On the tables of his 1912 publication two fragments of one of the main picture fields of the painting in question, 17 a part of the candelabrum belonging to it 18 , and the fragments of a row of painted stuccos 19 were displayed by him. 20 Gy. Rhé had realized that the red surfaces alternated with black dividing "bands", that is with candelabrums, 21 however he thought that the painted stucco belonged to the second group. 22 in his comprehensive work written in 1926 on the wall-painting in Pannónia, L. Nagy had classified the Baláca fragments within a system established by them into the group of Western Pannonian wall-painting. 23 He adopted the groups of Gy. Rhé and used also the pictures published by him. 24 It was a progress in the work of L. Nagy that he interpreted the fragments with different colours as belonging to the decorations of different rooms and he had realized the division of the fields, therefore he had described the fragments according to this, being as dado, main zone or cadelabrum. 25 It was a mistake in his work that he thought that the row of painted stuccos - which belongs to the painting under discussion - was originally within a band between the pedestal and the middle zone (as apredella ornament). 26 Due to the publications of Gy. Rhé and L. Nagy the Baláca wall-paintings had excited a great interest not only among Hungarian experts but also in international professional circles. 27 The fitting and professional treatment of the large quantity of wall-painting fragments which came to light during the excavations of Gy. Rhé were started by E. B. Thomas, who worked together with the painter L. Bartha. 28 In the exhibitions opened in 1951 29 and later enlarged in 1958, reconstructed five different Baláca wall-paintings, a surface of altogether 60 m 2 was displayed to the visitors. 30 Also the first reconstruction of the wall-painting of the Red Dining Room was completed at that time. (Fig. 2.) The painting had got its name after the theme of medallions decorating the main picture fields. The exhibition was removed between 1978 and 1983, at present fragments cannot be visited, they are in the store-room of the museum. 31 E. B. Thomas had classified the wall-paintings according to their characteristic colours or to their most important scenes and, following L. Nagy 32 , she had mentioned already different rooms. 33 Even now in the literature the terminology established by E. B. Thomas is used for the Baláca wall-paintings. In her work E. B. Thomas mentioned that the fragments of the wall-painting of the Red Dining Room were found below the no. 4. corridor of the main building No. I. 34 adding that maybe they belonged to the decoration of an earlier building, 35 yet she tried to put the wall-paintings of the I st group into another place, namely into the rooms of the main building (No. I.) 36 constructed at the turn of 2 nd-3 rd centuries A.D. 37 (Fig. 1.) Comprehensive studies on the Roman wall-painting of Pannónia within Hungary were written by I. Wellner 38 and later by M. Frizot 39 who gave a description of the Red Dining Room based on the work of E. B. Thomas. Recently, with reference to the stucco ornaments of the room No. 11. in the main building No. I., S. Palágyi wrote a comparative analysis on the stuccos of the Red Dining Room and of the Balatonfüred villa, though without the treatment of the rest of the wall. 40 Recently S. Palágyi made new excavations in the building No. I. between 1976 and 1986. 41 During the study of the wall-paintings of the Red Dining Room I used also this material. 42
