Folia archeologica 23.

Ferenc Fülep – György Duma: Examinations of the Wall Paintings in the Cella Trichora of Pécs

EXAMINATIONS OF THE WALL PAINTINGS IN THE CELLA TRICHORA OF PÉCS Ferenc Fiilep — György Duma In 1922 at the Roman city of Sopianae, situated under the inner part of the present town of Pécs, an Early-Christian burial chapel with three apses (cella trichora) was found in the late Roman, Early-Christian cemetery north of the town.

1 The axis of the building is approximately of N.-S. orientation. The narthex of the chapel, the size of which is 430 X 283 cm, had opened

2 towards the S. Between the chapel and the actual cella a walled-up door can be found with the original width of 145 cm. The cella itself consists of a more or less oblong central space, with a northern, an eastern and a western apse, all the three joining it. Diameter of the northern apse: 460 cm, and of the side apses: 390 cm. The thickness of its walls average about 100 cm. On the outer side of the structure buttresses can be found. The building is in a rather ruined state, its walls inside are about the height of 130 cm, its eastern apse is cut through by a huge medieval wall and the western apse is completely missing; it was removed during the construction of the bishops' palace. At present we are not going to deal with the historical and art historical problems that occur in the cella trichora, we only concentrate on the question of the highly valuable wall paintings of the chapel. On the much destroyed walls of the chapel which, as it was mentioned before, are only 130 cm above the base level, two layers of wall paintings can be found (Fig. 1 ) : the lower layer had consisted of black-and-white stripes that today have only scattered traces primarily in the northern apse, above the floor. This black-and-white painting is on the walls of the building constructed at the end of the 4th, or in the early 5 th century and probably it was the ornamentation at the base of the wall painting. Above it presumably there were colored surfaces as during our investigations several fragments of wall paintings have been found that could have belonged to this one. This layer is in all probabilities of the same age as the Roman time structure. In the northern and eastern apses and near the walled-up door leading to the narthex, on the first painted layer another one of plaster of poorer quality, more powdery and visibly mixed with plant material can be found, on which the second layer was painted. The fragment of the wall painting in the cella trichora of Pécs could only be the lowest part of a curtain pattern (Fig. 1 ). 1 Fiilep, F., Acta Arch. Hung. 11 (1959) pp. 399fr, and further literature. 2 The southern wall of the narthex was excavated and the entire extent of the narthex was defined by the author in 1955. Fiilep, F., op. cit. p. 406.