Horler Miklós: Budapest 1. budai királyi palota 1. Középkori idomtégla töredékek (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1995) (Magyarország építészeti töredékeinek gyűjteménye 4. Budapest, 1998)

András Végh: Medieval Terracotta finds from the royal Palace of Buda

András Végh MEDIEVAL TERRACOTTA FINDS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE OF BUDA INTRODUCTION There is an important collection of architectural fragments surviving from the medieval royal palace of Buda which so far has not attracted much attention from scholars. This set of pieces consists of material known to Hungarian specialists as "idomtégla"; the equivalent term in German is Backstein, Ziegelstein or Formziegel, whereas in Italian and English it is terracotta. These pieces are carvings made not of stone but of fired clay. Basically, the fragments are pieces of brick, although, owing to their sculpted form, their appearnace differ from that of ordinary brick. The nearly 800 terracotta fragments known to us today lead one to suspect that more than just one of the palaces in the royal castle were built of this material. As a result of the general deterioration of the medieval building complex, no single part of these suspected buildings can be studied on the original site. It is no wonder, therefore, that by using traditional methods of style analysis Hungarian art historians could form only a somewhat uncertain judgment concerning these pieces, which, with regard to form, differ radically from others found in the country. It was perhaps this uncertainty that, eventually, led to their neglect. In the acrimonious debate over the early history of the royal palace, László Gerevich and László Zolnay both claimed that the fragments supported their mutually contradictory theories; this again, did nothing to facilitate a better understanding of them. More recently, scholars studying the architectural history of the royal palace were apparently discouraged by all this contradiction and restricted themselves to merely mentioning the existence of the terracotta group. Thus sufficient attention has never been given to these significant remains. Only an overall investigation of the fragments promised to make them accessible, and therefore interesting, to art historians. The present work follows the aims of the series 'Lapidarium Hungaricum'. Based on the examination and assessment of each individual fragment it first offers an inventory of all the remaining fragments of the perished buildings. Then, by observing the characteristics of the specific pieces, it also attempts to describe what the former building may have looked like. The picture thus obtained can then be subjected to style analysis which, in turn, may lead to a reasoned classification of the fragments and the clarification of their place in the architectural history of the royal palace. Experts dealing with the architectural fragments of the royal palace face great difficulties. Hardly any of these pieces have survived in their original situation. Destroyed by detonations, canon fire and deliberate demolition they had fallen in the depths of inner courtyards and moats. Quite a few were moved to a considerable distance from their original site reused as building material for younger palace wings or fortifications.

1 The history of the terracotta fragments is, if possible, even more unfortunate than that of stone carvings. The task, therefore, to write an architectural history based on such fragmented evidence is basically different from those instances in which the historian is dealing with surviving, if ever so heavily compromised and ruined, buildings and is supported by the results of systematic archaeological excavations. The outcome of the work is bound to carry ambiguities and unquestionable conclusions will be the rare example. The author has to be content with suggestions for the reassembling of the puzzle. The reconstructions, too, are not more than possible variations. The reader should be aware that the most likely suggestion may be outdated in time, since the overall excavation of the royal palace has not come to an end, only the vast work of post war restoration is concluded.'

2 The number of the fragments are so few in comparison to the size of the building which they once had formed parts ofthat future archaeologists have a fair chance of basically resketching our present picture.The present work is the extended version of my university thesis presented at Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Archaeology in 1988. My thanks are due to Professor András Kubinyi for his guidance and suggestions and Károly Magyar, my later colleague at Budapest Historical Museum, for his suggesting the topic and helping my research at the museum. I also have to thank for their kind help in publishing the present volume to Professor Miklós Horler, the editor in