Marcu-Istrate, Daniela - Rusu, Adrian Andrei - Szőcs Péter Levente (szerk.): Arhitectura religioasă medievală din Transilvania 3. (Satu Mare, 2004)
Alexandru Baboş: Invisible features in the Design of the Timber Curches of Maamureş
Alexandru BABOŞ measure of 36 feet only with the standard from 1565 and no relevant result with the other three. On a broad scale, when the main sizes of all the extant wooden churches are corroborated with each of the four standards, the results are more relevant (fig. 3). The standard from 1565 turns up to be the most useful instrument to determine the old units for the wooden churches. All but one of the wooden churches15 had at least one of their main sizes determined with the foot from 1565 and almost two thirds of them had both. On the contrary, the other three standards hardly fit one or the other main size of a half of the churches and the churches with both their sizes determined are rather exceptions than a rule. In conclusion, the master carpenters from Maramureş probably used the royal system, with the 1565 standard to measure their churches, until the end of the 18lh century. In the case of Neresnytsia, this system was used until the beginning of the 19th centuiy. Since the right system and the right standard were determined, the further question is how the units were applied. It is very likely that the fathom, the yard, the ell and the foot were used differently case by case, depending on circumstances. The fathom (288 cm), however, was often too large to render the variety of sizes, while the foot (28,8 cm), due to its shortness, provided too high numbers to work with. On the other hand, the yard (86,4 cm) and the ell (57,6 cm) must have been easy to use, in most of the cases. For instance, the church from Vişeul de Jos was either planned 8 x 14 yards or 12 x 21 ells. Some of the churches might have been planed only in ells, like in Călineşti Căeni — 8 ells wide and 14 ells long -, or in yards, like Breb -6x15 yards - and exceptionally the one from Sârbi Susani - 2 x 3!4 fathoms. In fact, most of the situations were like in Sârbi Josani, where the width was planed either 2Vi fathoms or 81/3 yards or 1214 ells. If the royal system is applied to each room of the church, a more detailed information will be obtained. The general result, however, will be the same (fig. 4). An unexpected help is provided, by an important written source: the Bible. In this holy book, both the temple of Solomon and the New Jerusalem are described several times, using for measures ells “with human size, which is the same for the angel.”16 Because the church builders must have been aware of the biblical descriptions — being sensible on the right proportion of the house of God — it can be assumed that the ell might have been preferred for all of the churches. This is certainly true for the emblematic medieval stone churches of Câmpulung and Sarasău, and evident for the wooden churches from Strâmtura, Darva, Deseşti and Vişeul de Jos, too. At Sat Şugătag, Apşa de Mijloc, Josani or Sârbi Josani, however, the only conceivable unit was the yard. 15 The church of Apşa de Mijloc Susani had neither its width nor its length defined by the standard from 1565. 16 Biblia sau Sfânta Scriptură, Bucureşti 1982, Apocalypse 21,17. 292
