Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 2003/1. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 2003)
MŰHELY - Sarkadi Márton: A gyulafehérvári székesegyház és érseki palota 1999-2002 között végzett helyreállítási munkáinak tanulságai
altar was transported to the transept and in the nave a composition of baroque and new sculptures and a monumental throne was placed. The large size corpus of the high altar, the work of Simon Hoffmayer disappeared during the process. The precious Neogothic chandelier of the négyezet was replaced with another of poor quality. One of the side altars built of the remains of princely tombstones was taken away and not yet put up again. Fortunately not all plans were finished, the base of the baroque stalls were not sawn off for example. Contrary to the above mentioned reconstruction the building seemed to be abandoned. Simple works of maintenance were missed, like drainage or elimination of leaking. Precious stone fragments (like the remains of the tombstone of János Statileo Transylvanian bishop) were taken away from their original place and stored in the open air so their condition was poor. The most important and urgent works - like the static reinforcement of the baroque sacristy threatening with falling down - were only just mentioned. From among the results of the reconstruction of the 1990s only a few could be considered as positive, like the reinforcement of a vault rib, the replacement with copies of the western façade statues and the renovation of the naves roofing. At the end of the 1990s - perhaps as a result of experts' criticism, or the decrease of German financial sources - the Archiepiscopate accepted the help of the Hungarian cultural ministry. The offer complied of the financial support of the reconstruction and taking part in the organizations of the research. In the following four years with the help of the experts of the Office of Monument Protection and the financial support of the Ministry of National Heritage, with the participation of the László Teleki foundation as an organizer the reconstruction work continued. Financial sources were only 3,5 million forints in 1999, but in the following years the sum was ten times more. Contrary to earlier promises the archiepiscopate did not contribute to the expenses. The source of problems was not only this, they also interfered in the experts' fields. The archiepiscopate wanted to finance its firm on the basis of the Hungarian state support, which had no economic or technical reasons. Similarly they wanted the restoration work to be made by the firm's untrained stonemasons contradicting to basic points of monument protection. Unfortunately the Hungarian support system was not ready to solve a task such important and complicated as the one of Gyulafehérvár not speaking about their ambitions. It was an essential factor that the support always meant a certain sum of money, consequently a larger size work of several years could not be carried out. Other Hungarian events, like the flood of 2000 endangered the whole business. The Gyulafehérvár project was not taken out of the general support system although its importance should have been a reason for it. The source of another sphere of problems was a kind of stimulation of the hope that a Hungarian state support could be obtained without the cooperation with the experts of the László Teleki Foundation and the Monument Protection Office. Contrary to these problems a few results were reached. It was new in Gyulafehérvár that a high quality firm and highly qualified restorers and researchers were cooperating. Reconstruction work was always preceded by the expert's opinion, plan, research, documentation. The long term programme of
