Veres Gábor szerk.: Agria 46. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2010)

Berecz Mátyás - Csillag Tamás: Csata a kápolnai Tarna-hídért. Művészi szabadság vagy történelmi tévedés?

Mátyás Berecz - Tamás Csillag Battle for the Kápolna Bridge Artist's freedom or historical error

? The battle of Kápolna is among the most talked about events of the War of Independence due to its military and political significance. Despite the rich literature, numerous questions emerge in connection with the battle, its precursors and impacts that still await objective answers. Fortunately, beside military documents various memorials, contemporary descriptions and presentments are left to us. A fresh analysis and criticism of the sources could give a great help in getting a more nuanced picture of certain details. The present article investigates the aquarelle by Mór Than titled Cézár Mednyánszky and Móric Psotta colonels leading the soldiers of the Zanini regiment in the Kápolna battle. The author (who spent his childhood in Kápolna) explains by analysing the painting that there are several contradictions between the portrayal of the event, the memorials and the contemporary reports. Some of these could be traced back to the incorrect identification of the location. The public connect the event depicted in the painting to the old bridge that once stood not far from the present one on Tarna brook. Nonetheless, the position of the bridge and the church relating to one other in the painting cannot be reconstructed from any viewpoint. By comparing the painting and the contemporary cadastral survey picturing the centre of the settlement the author identifies the presumptive location of the event at the eastern entrance of the settlement, at the surroundings of the so called Malomárok bridge. Analysing the documents and maps it is also revealed that the battle recorded in the painting took place not at the depicted place, but a little further away, in the direct proximity of the settlement's church. Another Hungarian unit performed an attack in the neighbourhood of the church, the locations and the troops could have been mixed up subsequently by the artist. 217