A műemlékek sokszínűsége (A 28. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1998 Eger, 1998)

Előadások / Presentations - Kristina MARKUŠOVA: Restoration of the Saint Elizabeth Church in Kassa

crumbled from the surface of the neogothic buttresses made from the Szepes sandstone already mentioned. In this case, in view of the inferiority of the stone, neither the Venice Charter nor anything else was of any effect, the stones had to be replaced. Using the drawings in the Kassa archive, the architects and masons faithfully reproduced the neo-Gothic forms. Since the new drawings had adopted the system of symbols and numbering used in the last century's restoration for identifying the pillars, the layers and the stone elements from between the layers, the new pieces were also marked accordingly. The precision of the documentation was borne out when the crumbling stones were removed: the stonemasons found the same numbers and letters, but in the last century these were not carved precisely into the stone, but scratched on with some kind of nail, written on with a mason's pencil, or painted on with lead paint. There was no original drawing in the archives for the shrine's principal cornice or the gutter spouts projecting from under the parapet: these had disintegrated to such an extent even by the nineteen twenties that they were removed and their places covered with thick lead flashing, and the gutter spouts replaced with slightly projecting concrete spouts. The shape of the neogothic parapet could be determined from old photographs, but there were not even verbal records of the shape of the gutter spouts. Original gothic spouts from the Kassa church can be found in several places, however: two, for instance, were built into the Kreuzenstein Castle already mentioned, several were purchased by Count Sztáray and taken to his residence in Nagymihály (Michalovce), and a few found their way into the East Slovakia Museum. It was not possible to establish from these items, which were of various shapes of sizes, where they originally came from. Only six of the Nagymihály and Kassa pieces could be found in their complete form, the others only being fragments, and so the stonemasons used these as models. However, since there are seven wall spans between the sanctuary buttresses, one model was carved twice, on two opposite sides, so that the observer does not see both at the same time. There was one thing that nobody expected, however, and which only came to light when the scaffolding was removed from the sanctuary: in still, wet weather a water spout on the north-east wall span pours its water from a height of 10 metres on to the finial of the dome of the vestry's staircase tower below it. There was only one way to solve the problem: the spout aperture coming out of the eaves was covered with lead and the water collecting in it was channelled off to the two neighbouring spouts. The interior of the shrine also produced some surprises after the scaffolding was erected. On the northeast section of the wall beside the main altar the restorers noticed as they were removing the cement slurry the remains of a medieval consecration cross, which they preserved and arranged so that it can still be seen. A small presentation of the paintings of the medieval church interior was assembled from paint fragments found in the bends of the wall pillars and consoles: this can only be seen behind the main altar, so as not to interfere with the view from the nave. The ribbed vaulting of the shrine meets at four corner stones: the ribs are original medieval, but the four cornerstones are only a neo-Gothic trick: they are made of papier-mache, fixed by a screw to a stone element left in place but carved smooth. After one of these was removed, fragments of the Kaschauer Zeitung published in the 1880s were found in it. The restoration of the sanctuary was followed by external facade of the vestry, and at the same time repairs started on the south facade. The south side was rebuilt even in the 19th century with better-quality sandstone and other stone, and so only local restoration was required, naturally after thorough cleaning of the entire stone surface. The final stage was careful preservation of all surfaces (using Wacker OH and H Steinfestiger). Restoration of the south facade also took in the south vestibule: this was covered by cement slurry in the last century. After the cement slurry was removed, it was found that the missing medieval parts (small crockets, finials on the turrets, leaf decorations) were only replaced by plaster elements a hundred years ago, taking advantage of the fact that the entrance was protected from rain. Some remains of gilding were also come across in the gaps of the hanging keystones.