Cseri Miklós, Füzes Endre (szerk.): Ház és ember, A Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum évkönyve 8. (Szentendre, Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, 1992)

BALASSA M. IVÁN: A mándi református templom története

Iván Balassa M. THE HISTORY OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN MAND The central building of the group, representing the Upper Tisza Region in the Hungarian Open Air Museum in Szentendre, is the church of the Reformed transplanted from Mánd. There seemed to be no problem with determining the time of its construction because, among other pieces of information, it is indicated as 1790 on the central panel of its coffered ceiling. It was a recent investigation, aimed primarily at the furniture of the church that revealed several contradictions which made it inevitable to examine the building construction. In the course of research, in addition to the conclusions reached when examining the structure and to the data discovered through comparison, some documents were revealed which made it clear that the church had been erected 200 years earlier than previously believed. One of the most important discoveries was that the painted date on the chancel arch separating the sanctury and the nave was misinterpreted when the church was taken apart for moving to the Open Air Museum. The correct reading is 1582 or 1587, which enables us to see the history of the building in its right perspective and establish the proper architectural periods. Accordingly, the church was built at the end of the 16th century, which explains (among others) why an ogee arch was carved into the lintel at each window. It is also likely that then the structure, as an element of ornamentation, was visible on the facade, i.e., the building was a Fachwerk not only in its construction but also in its appearance. In the next architectural period, tentatively put to the first half of the 18th century, the most important change was the addition of a painted coffered ceiling. Its remains were found in extremely different places at the time of demolition, like at the bottom of the gallery, as front panels of pews, even as eaves boards. Twelve of the coffers could be re-assembled and exhibited in the church. It is very likely that the two attractive Baroque doors and door-frames were made at the same time. They may have covered by then the timber frame, which used to be visible from the outside, with daub to make the building similar to the "modern" stone churches of the day. The next reconstruction lasted from 1787 to 1791. It was, we suppose, the time when the earlier ceiling was replaced by the present one, the galleries at the eastern and western ends of the interior were added, and the pulpit with the abat-voix was made. The eastern and western pews are also likely to date from this period. The master responsible for all this was, as determined by comparison, Gábor Vasvári Ódor, to whose handiwork is ascribed many a crown-shaped canopy above pulpits and other furniture (e.g., pews) in the churches of the neighbouring villages. Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries a small porch of adobe bricks was raised at the western entrance of the church. The events of the last "architectural period" were the dismantling of the church in 1974-75, and its relocation in the Szentendre Open Air Museum during 1975-77. The building now looks as it must have in 1790 when its furniture was finished by Gábor Vasvári Ódor. The building construction and appearance of the Protestant church transplanted from Mánd to the Hungarian Open Air Museum at Szentendre have been said to resemble such buildings of the late Middle Ages. Now it seems that the structure is not just "like" them, but actually one of them. This building erected at the end of the 16th century is also important because it is the only witness of its kind of the rural ecclesiastical timber architecture of that age. It is a specimen by which we can form a picture of its contemporary counterparts that have perished almost without trace, not only because of the passing of time but also because of the stormy history of Hungary.