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

Előadások / Presentations - POMOZI István: Village churches with wooden painted, panelled ceilings

ISTVÁN POMOZI VILLAGE CHURCHES WITH WOODEN PAINTED, PANELLED CEILINGS Wood is the most valuable natural building material, since it can be produced relatively easily, it can be processed and used for nearly anything. It is suitable for the whole construction of a building - walls, ceilings, roofing, frames and furniture can all be made of wood. Masters of the trade knew the characteristics of wood well, when they worked with it they did so in a way that they avoided its disadvantages, i.e. warping and contraction as a result of drying. What they made they made in both appearance and finish to correspond to the natural features of the wood. A significant part of the protected material made by joiners and carpenters comprises painted wooden ceilings and furnishings. Interior furnishings were common in both secular and ecclesiastical architecture all over Hungary between the 16th and the first half of the 19th centuries. A part can still be found, mostly in church interiors. Aristocrats, town citizens and simple village people often had painted wooden ceilings, wardrobes, tables, cases, benches, chairs and doors made for their mansions and houses between the 16th and 18th centuries. Stucco and painted walls became fashionable in the 18th century, thus replacing painted wooden ceilings. However, painted wooden ceilings remained in use in Hungary's village church architecture. There were hardly any village churches of medieval origin in Hungary which had not been affected by the 16th and 17th centuries. They bear witness to destruction. The depopulation of certain areas began at the time of the Battle of Mohács and continued on a much larger scale during the Turkish domination. The population fled to towns from defenceless villages. Destruction effected the whole area of present day Hungary. In many places churches were ruined either partly or entirely, together with medieval villages. At the beginning of the 18th century when hostilities ceased a large number of already dilapidated buildings was dismantled. However, it was not only the war which affected village churches but religion, too. In the beginning the changes did not bring a sudden break away from medieval traditions in the church furnishings, they were mostly connected to liturgy. The spread of the Reformation, however, went together with removing the old altars and ruining or repainting the artistic decorations. The process of re-Catholicisation began at the end of the 16th century when the opposition between the old and new religions sharpened. At the beginning of the 17th century the Counter Reformation was successful among a certain number of landowners and the nobility, and the use of village churches again became the focus of argument. We hardly know of construction of new churches in the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in villages where keeping or regaining the only church was in the centre of the struggle. Therefore village communities regarded the church as its own, a communal building embodying the village unity. Under such conditions construction played a less significant role than conversion and new furnishings made after the decay of the old interior. The new interior of Calvinist churches was formed gradually, mostly among the old walls in the medieval architectural space. According to the Catholic concept the most important parts of the mass take place at the altar, that is why it must stand in the most emphatic spot from both the architectural and decorative points of