Folia archeologica 23.

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

CELLA TRICHORA OF PÉCS 21 I French ivory carvings.

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9 These, compared to the wall painting of Pécs, naturally mean a rather late period as the habit of using curtain pattern should also be taken into consideration which only rarely occurs after the 12th century in the ornamentation of the interiors of churches.

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0 At the dating of the curtain pattern two points should be noted: one is the route along which the motif had reached Hungary and the other is those political and historical circumstances among which this motif, obviously originating from Greco-Bvzantine cultural sphere, could have come to Hungary. T. Nagy presumes that one of the routes of the spread of Christianity was the valley of the rivers Axios-Margus opening from Thessalonica towards the Danube valley even though there are no direct data of missionary activities of Thessalonica.

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1 It is not entirely ruled out that the motif reached the territory of Pannónia, i.e. Hungary directly from Greece-Byzantium, following the route of Christianity. In western Europe this ornamental motif had obviously spread from the direction of Spain and South Italy.

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2 According to historical sources Flungarians settling in the Carpathian basin had extremely close contacts with the Byzantine Empire. As it was expounded by Gy. Moravcsik,

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3 as early as about the middle of the 10th century two Magyar chieftains, Bulcsú and the Transylvanian Gyula, were baptized in Byzantium. At that time a bishop was sent from Byzantium to Hungary who obviously was commissioned with the conduct of missionary work.

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4 This could be one of the periods when we may count with the development of direct contacts and the motif might have been taken over from Greco-Byzantine territory. But as Pécs was outside the settlements of both Bulcsú and Gyula

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5 and conversion had not yet started on the territory of Bulcsú in South-Hungary, therefore this period should be excluded from among the possible alternatives of the motif coming here. As it lias been mentioned earlier this period is approximately the time of the recapture of Crete from the Arabs,

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6 so it is too early and would precede even the spread of the Kufic pattern in Greece itself. The next period when extremely close contacts are developed between the Byzantine Empire and Hungary is the time of Stephen I (1000-1038). It was also proved by Gy. Moravcsik

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7 that the son of Stephen I, Prince Emeric, married a a» Ibid. pp. 4986": Nr. 122-128. 4

0 Wilpert, J., Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien. IV. (Freiburg i. В. 1916) p. 243: S. Giovanni e Paolo. Turn of the 1 Ith and 12th centuries; p. 264: S. Cosma e Damiano. First part of the 13th century. 4

1 Nagy, T., Történetírás i (1937) pp. i2off. - Similarly Saria

, В., Völker und Kulturen Südosteuropas. I. (München 1959) pp. 11 and 22. 4

2 Erdmann, K., op. cit. p. 508. 4

3 Aloravcsik, Gy., Görög nyelvű monostorok Szent István korában. SzIE 1. (Bp 1938) pp. 389fr.; Idem, Studia Byzantina. (Bp. 1967) p. 329.; Idem, Hungary and Byzantium in the Middle Ages. CMH IV/i. (Cambridge 1966) p. 572. 4

4 Idem, Görög nyelvű . . . pp. 396fr, 401, 406.; Idem, Studia Byz. ... p. 329.; Idem, Hungary . . . loc. cit. 4

5 Hóman, B.-Szekfü, Gy., Magyarország története. I. (Bp. 1941) „A magyar törzsek elhelyezkedése az új hazában" térkép (Map: "The Settlement of the Hungarian Tribes in the New Country").; Moravcsik, Gy., Görög nyelvű ... p. 401. 4

6 Setton, К. AI., op. cit. pp. 31 iff. 4

7 Aloravcsik, Gy., Görög nyelvű . . . pp. 413fr.