F. Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 1995/1-2. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 1995)

MŰHELY - Lővei Pál: A siklósi plébániatemplom szentélye és középkori falképei

In the eastern outer walls of the choir there are Gothic tracery windows. In the arches of the windows among fields imitating marble inlay in round medallions heads are to be found. In the crownings in the middle there is a representation of Vir Dolorum, in the north-south an interesting, three-faced bust of the Holy Trinity („tricephalus") and in the northeast Christ's head with a cross in the nimbus (Vera ikon). Beside the windows in two lines the figures of the apostles are standing. Behind the damaged tabernacle niche the representation of the suffering Christ is to be found. The large size paintings of the longitudinal walls have not perfectly remained. The Crucifixion scene of the eastern panel of the northern side is partly destroyed by the later built window. The earlier layer of paintinge, mentioned earlier, is seen here on the largest surface, with the same Crucifixion subject. In the eastern part of the southern wall the Coronation of the Virgin is to be seen in the interior of a magnificent building, surrounded by angels. In the western part a narrow, high window was found, and on the side from the triumphal arch there is the figure of St. John the Baptist. Above the once pointed, later semicircular triumphal arch in a round mandorla a half-length Christ is handing over a book with his left hand and a key with his right one to St. Paul and St. Peter („translatio legis"). On two sides, the figures of St. Mary Magdalene and Mary Egypt are praying, wearing hairshirts in a rocky landscape. On the pillars of the triumphal arch the remains of the former rood-screen's arcades could be observed. The plastered surfaces of the sedile by the door of medieval origin leading to the sacristy is decorated with paintings belonging to the earlier period. In the middle the sitting figure of a saint bishop - probably St. Augustine - is to be seen, on two sides St. Stephen protomartyr and St. Laurence are sitting. On one of the pendentives and on the wall paintings several Garai coats-ofarms representing the snake are to be seen. In the crowning of a pointed window of the southern longitudinal wall the sign of the Order of the Dragon can be seen. The Palatine Miklós (II) Garai (tl433) and his brother, János (tl428) were founding members of King Sigismunde Order of the Dragon (the deed of foundation dates back to 12th December, 1408). The wall painting must have been made after 1408, at the order of the Garai family. In the course of the excavation a tombstone representing a knight in armour was found, without any inscription. On the basis of its style it might be dated to around 1380, and on the basis of its coat-of-arms it might be identified with the sepulchre of the Palatine Miklós Garai (I) (tl386). His sons changing Siklós into a representative residence, might have tried to create a family burial-place in the choir richly painted on the basis of a homogeneous program. Later on Miklós II. changed his mind, and by the end of his life founded a new family burial chapel on the northern side of the church of the Holy Virgin in Buda, where he himself was buried in 1433. On the basis of this, the wall paintings of Siklós can be dated to the 1410' or the latest to the 1420', which is in accordance with their style as well.