A műemlékek sokszínűsége (A 28. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1998 Eger, 1998)

Előadások / Presentations - Kristina MARKUŠOVA: Restoration of the Saint Elizabeth Church in Kassa

restoration, but is an essential task because of the moisture which collects in the stone wall underneath.) The stone floor, which had become uneven, was lifted (it was then that the foundations of the former St Elizabeth parish church was found and surveyed) and afterwards replaced by ceramic floor tiles. In 1896, the restored church was re-consecrated, and subsequently only the upper part of the south tower was subjected to a few repairs: the damaged stones of the parapet and the stone gutter, and the tower's two gutter spouts were replaced with new stone. An important moment in the recent history of the church occurred in the year 1996: under the treaty between the Hungarian and Turkish governments, the ashes of Ferenc Rákóczi IT and his companions were moved from Tekirda to the crypt of the Kassa Cathedral. A new staircase and entrance to the crypt were built under the apse of the north side aisle and on the wall above the north entrance. The event is depicted by a fresco (painted by Andor Dudis after a competition). Subsequent to the large-scale reconstruction, maintenance was left to slide in the first half of the 20th century. This was of course partly because of the two world wars and the twofold redrawing of the borders. In the nineteen seventies, a few minor repairs were carried out on the entrances (the neogothic angels were replaced on the trumeau of the north entrance), and crumbling stones were removed (the neogothic dome over the two stair towers on the external side of the chancel was removed and they were covered temporarily with metal flashing.) By this time, cracks on the sanctuary wall and chancel arch had been detected, and several gaps had appeared in the glazed roof tiles. The responsible institutions therefore warned of the need for a new restoration. Since at that time the Kassa Cathedral was on the list of national monuments, under a government decree, preparations for restoration were entrusted to the Inspectorate of the Institution for Protection of Historical Monuments, under the supervision of the Slovak Institution for Protection of Historical Monuments. The study included survey documents and plans, drawings and photographs from last century. Most of the drawings originated from the MOB and were stored in the OMvH drawings archive, but there are also several drawings of the reconstruction of the sanctuary dating from the last century held in Municipal Document Archive (Archiv mesta Kosice). After information had been gathered the ..preliminary historic monument research" could begin - the detailed survey of the building. (More accurate surveying could only be carried out after the scaffolding had been erected.) Restoration was planned in stages, so that restoration of the exterior and interior parts could proceed independently and only one-third of the interior of the cathedral would be worked on at any one time, so that it would not have to be closed to worshippers and visitors. After several obstacles, the restoration and repairs finally got under way in 1984. First was the roof repair: although the roof structure of the previous century was in good condition (only requiring extensions in a few places), the many missing tiles had led to water patches even on the vaulting. It was found that although the glazed external part of the roof tiles withstood the weather well, the unglazed part lying on the battens were crumbling on most of the tiles. This was ascribed to air pollution. The nonstandard size and shape of the roof tiles, and their glazing, were the main problems in renewing the roof. (The solution was eventually provided by a helpful tile factory in South Moravia.) To prevent the new tiles from falling off the steep roof in future, every piece was made with a little hole, so that every tile is attached to the batten with a copper nail. In addition, the roof is structurally supported by a steel frame to eliminate horizontal or oblique movements. (This reinforcement was demanded by two expert opinions, but regarded as unnecessary by a third.) The neo-Gothic lantern tower at the intersection of the main nave and transept also needed repair: it is a wooden structure with large areas of copper plate decoration. More than 250 metal sheet sections had to be added to the approximately 12m-high tower. It was the condition of the sanctuary that demanded the most urgent intervention: several centimetres had