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

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

view. In Lutheran churches the altar and the pulpit, i.e. the pulpit-altar is the most important element of the interior, since the role of preaching increased its significance. Therefore, in Protestant churches the emphasis is not on turning towards the altar, but on sitting around the pulpit-altar or the pulpit, the important point is to hear and see the preacher well. Therefore, in order to increase the capacity it became customary to build a gallery in the chancel beside the western gallery. The hall character of the church space becomes more emphasised in this way. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526 the signs of development only showed in the second half of the 18th century. This period is significant from the point of painted wooden ceilings and furnishings, because that was the time when wooden architecture of a folk character and based on medieval traditions experienced a revival. A large number of wooden churches were built in villages where there had been no medieval church or the ruined building became defunct. In most places the village population had to build its church from their own resources. Protestants had to overcome the difficulties created by the Habsburg Emperors being Catholic rulers. Wooden churches of medieval character stood in large numbers in Hungarian villages until the end of the 19th century. Their way of construction and shape continued medieval traditions. Only two such wooden churches have remained to this day. One stood in Tákos in Bereg county and the other in Mánd in the Szatmár Erdohát region - both were taken to the Szentendre Open-air Village Museum between 1975 and 1977. Wood played a significant role in church interiors, in their decoration and after the Middle Ages covering internal spaces with flat wooden ceilings became frequent again. Thus the appearance and spread of flat wooden ceilings was not a necessity, rather it signalled a conscious difference in taste. The spread of wooden ceilings was generated by the fact that during the Turkish period the vaulting of many medieval churches collapsed, and there were neither the financial resources nor trained masters to restore them. Wooden churches, however, naturally had wooden ceilings The function of flat wooden ceilings is two-fold. On the one hand it is the decorative ornament of closing the space above the whitewashed walls built in puritan simplicity, while on the other it gives meaning to the architectural space according to old traditions. Hungary's painted wooden ceilings and furnishings of a monument character and value started to appear in the 17th century, but most were made in the 18th and in the first half of the 19th centuries. The painted motifs are varied, but material from the same area and period shows similarities. Painted furnishings can primarily be found in Calvinist churches. They have very little trace in Catholic churches, since due to the better financial standing of the Catholic church and the ruling Baroque style, the abiding stone and brick vaulting replaced the painted wooden ceiling. However, in some Catholic churches painted wooden ceilings have remained (Szentsimon, Nádújfalu). Painted wooden ceilings and furnishings, such as the front and sides of benches, the pastor's seat (Moses chair), pulpits, sounding boards and the Lord's table were made by 'joiner-painters'. Most joiners worked in guilds up to 1872, when the guild system was abolished. The 'joiner-painters' were specialised in decorative painting and look on jobs of this nature. They made both church ceilings and furnishings and furniture for secular buildings. Considering their structure and form, painted ceilings can be divided into two parts: - elongated wooden planks; - wooden ceilings consisting of coffers. Wooden ceilings consisting of long planks are of medieval origin. The planks are decorated in lines, which follow the elongated shapes. This is how the wooden ceilings of Calvinist churches in Rakacaszend and Zubogy were painted.