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 the nearby church of Fereşti, built by German carpenters, with a great concern for the local traditional model. ... and their systems of proportions The longevity of the traditional models is probably explained the strong inner structure or system of proportions of the churches, that linked the parts of the construction through simple and quite clear principles. These principles relieved the master carpenters from working with drawings, and permitted them a great amount of variations without altering the essence of the models. In order to recover the system of proportions, it is necessary the proper reading of the generated dimensions, and the understanding - whenever possible - of the governing rules, which determines the dimensions. In the process of a building-design, the width, the length and the height of the future construction played a major role. The most important measure, however, was the width, because it determined directly the span of the vault and above it the roof, and implicating important technical details. In consequence, the width was a reference size for the height of the rooms. The length, in its turn, complemented the width to establish the capacity of each room. The log structure. Among the successive rooms of the church, the nave or the ‘men’s church’, was in the centre of attention. Here, the width, the length and the height were established by the ground sills. In ideal case, these three dimensions were equal, leading to obvious parallel with the biblical cube of the New Jerusalem. Such clear pattern was preferred at some of the earliest churches of Călineşti Căeni, Onceşti, Budeşti Josani, Ieud Deal, erected until the middle of the 17lh century — and possibly of Corneşti before the repair of the vault. The nave at Budeşti Susani - 12Vi ells wide, 12 ells long and IIV2 ells high -, built after the middle of the 18lh century, still approached the same pattern. All the other numerous variants are spread around this basic principle. Some of the naves were visibly elongated, like at Săliştea de Sus dos, Sârbi Susani and Poienile Izei, whereas many of them were noticeable lofty as at Sat Şugătag, Steblivka, Rozavlea, Vişeul de Jos and Borşa din Jos. In Sârbi Josani, the 81/3 yards wide, 7 yards long and 9 yards high nave appears both axially reduced and vertically elevated. From a horizontal perspective, inside the nave an important division occurred. The believers were separated from the sacred space of the sanctuary, by a higher platform in the front of the iconostasis, called soleea. This platform was intentionally calculated within the length of the nave from the very beginning. In Budeşti Josani, for example, the platform of stone slabs was heightened with one hand (18 cm) from the floor, and had 3 ells inside the nave, including the cross sill under the screen of the icon. In the case of the 294
