Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)

Tartalom

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VÁC'S REMAINS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (1301-1 526)

poems, although none of them have survived. All of the humanists who had connections with Hungary spoke about him with great respect. The Italian Galeotto Marzio, who wrote a whole book of stories about King Matthias, put down the following episode about Báthori: Due to his position and background, the young bishop was member of the Royal Council. Once he was sitting with the other lords waiting for the council to start. While waiting for admission he was reading a book by Cicero, which made the other barons laugh at him, but King Matthias, referring to an antique story, stood up for him.

However, Báthori was no reserved bookworm. He liked entertainment regularly acquired new properties,

His constructions in Vác followed the same method as early Renaissance builders in other parts of Hungary: he did not erect new buildings, but remodelled existing ones in the most modern style of the age. This is what he did in the case of the church and the palace. He had the window frames of the palace replaced, which made the building look Renaissance; he had a balcony built looking onto the Danube, and he decorated the surroundings of the castle with Italian-style gardens and fish ponds. Next to the royal constructions in Buda and Visegrád this one in Vác must have been the most significant early Renaissance construction, but not the

only one linked with Báthori's name. He had similar reconstructions done in the Castle of Nógrád and in the Abbey of Mogyoród (27 km from Vác), which he transformed into a summer cottage.Thanks to a 17th century Hungarian historian, Miklós Istvánffy, the name of the man directing the building works in Vác and Nógrád is known to us. He mentioned a certain Jakab Traui, but it was a misspelling: actually he was a famous sculptor of his age working in Hun- i gary, too, and he is known today I to art history as János Dalmata ofTrau (todayTrogir in Croatia). It is impossible to tell whether he really worked in Vác.

From the medieval castle literally not a stone has been left standing today. There are some Gothic and Renaissance fragments, the remnants of the latter can be seen in four places: in the cathedral of Vác, in the Collection of the Diocese in Vác, at the museum of Vác, and the Hungarian National Gallery.

Besides the numerous stone fragments found in the 20th century there is a very important group of carvings, which were saved from destruction at the beginning of the 18th century, and are outstanding remnants of the early Hungarian Renaissance art. Whether we see them in Budapest or Vác we should remember that they served their original func-Painted Renaissance rib-fragment

(PMMI-TIM 84.131.1)

Idealized view of Vác in the time of King Matthias