H. Kolba Judit szerk.: Historical Exhibition of the Hungarian National Museum Guide 2 - From the Foundation of the State until the Expulsion of the Ottomans - The history of Hungary in the 11th to 17th centuries (Budapest, 2005)

ROOM 3 - The Age of Sigismund of Luxembourg and János Hunyadi (first half of the 15th century) (Etele Kiss - Ágnes Ritoók)

In 1408, the royal court moved from Visegrád to Buda. In the wake of the reconstruction work that can be dated to the second and third decades of the 15th century, Buda Castle was extended through the addition of new wings, courtyards and fortifications, and became the seat of the court, one which matched European standards. In the wing next to the north ditch the ceremonial hall was located, one of the largest secular interior spaces in the Europe of the time. The layout which developed in the course of Sigismunde construction work hardly changed up to the end of the Middle Ages. The Gothic Buda Castle sculptures, unearthed in 1974 but executed during the first third of the 15th century, are almost the only relics of court art of a European standard to have remained in situ. The Apostle statue, which followed Burgundián prototypes, belonged to a series of Saints. The page was, on the other hand, part of a group of sculptures representing the royal court. In his capacity as Holy Roman emperor, Sigismund presided over the most significant conference in mediaeval Europe, the Synod of Constance, summoned in 1414. Although the synod succeeded in putting an end to the schism which had existed since 1378, reform of the Church did not occur, and because of their reformist teachings, Jan Hus and his pupil Jerome of Prague were condemned by the synod fathers to be burnt at the stake. Nevertheless, from the cultural history standpoint, Constance brought to Hungary the opportunity of an early acquaintance with Humanism. It prepared the ground for the growth of Renaissance culture at the court of King Matthias at a later date. One of the finest Italian humanists to participate at the synod, P. P. Vergerio, settled in Hungary. His educational work entitled The Noble Morals of Youth and the Liberal Arts, a copy of which is exhibited here, was one of the most popular books of the century. St. Ladislas was accorded special respect as early as the period of the Anjou kings. Because of the Ottoman menace and later the Hussite raids, in the first half of the 15th century his person was more and more honoured as the defender of the country. Sigismund himself declared as early as 1406 that he wanted to be buried in Nagyvárad (Oradea), the cult-place of the warrior-saint. Sigismunde tomb, destroyed during the Turkish occupation, could be identified on the basis of the complete emblem of the Order of the Dragon, which was, however, subsequently lost. The crown found in the tomb is from the Anjou period. The inscription on the tombstone emphasized the imperial merits of the monarch. The Order of the Dragon, an order of knighthood founded in 1408, served not only the defence of Christendom, but also dynastic aims. Since, as a great honour, Sigismund and his successors distributed the emblem of the Order of the Dragon among the nobility of Europe, the complete emblem of the order, or some elements of it, features on numerous objects all over Europe. A direct reference to Sigismund is the dragon of the Order of the Dragon on one of the ornamented saddles exhibited (Fig. 18). These outstanding art objects present a wide range of the ideals of the court culture of the period: in addition to St. George vanquishing the Dragon, strange creatures and representations of mediaeval towns (Fig. 19), the central theme is the ideal of knightly love, courtoiserie. On the saddles, as well as the fashionable attire influenced primarily by the ever-changing French courtly customs, the popular figures of the Wild Man and nudes also appear. ECCLESIASTICAL RELICS From the late 14th century onwards, the interiors of churches changed significantly. The most important change was the spread