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- Author or Editor: Imre Takács x
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Abstract
The study focuses on some original parts of the second building of Gyulafehérvár cathedral which are now missing, such as its original sanctuary, which was demolished soon after completion and replaced by another. Also discussed are a number of carvings used in a secondary or tertiary setting, as spolia, originally made around 1200 or at the beginning of the 13th century, and then removed from their original context. Fragments of chevron-decorated carvings can be arranged along an arch that, because of its size, can only be identified with the transverse arch of the original apse of the sanctuary. The transverse arch on the face of the Gyulafehérvár apse, built around 1200, was – as far as we know today – the largest structural element in Central Europe decorated with a “Norman” chevron ornament. From the exterior decoration of the original apse a surprisingly large number of richly decorated details still survive. The entablature high on top of the polygonal apse of the present-day sanctuary is richly decorated with figures and other motifs in high relief. The placement of these carvings is clearly secondary. Obviously pieces from the entablature of the 12th-century apse were re-used in the 13th-century Gothic apse (and later when it was rebuilt in the 18th century). The thematic focus of the Gyulafehérvár cornice also relates to the figural decoration of the capitals inside the sanctuary. In addition to this series, about a dozen or so other figural carvings from this same period adorn the church. The two reliefs depicting St. Michael, both found in secondary placement high on the outside wall of the sanctuary, are the most important of these carvings.
Abstract
During the Middle Ages, the natural geographical zone of artistic connections was limited to directly neighbouring regions and territories, and these contacts were immediate and interactive in nature. Artistic contacts reaching far beyond the borders of usual trade and cultural exchange zones can be characterized with adjectives such as transregional or continental, rather than interregional. Whenever we face a phenomenon ignoring the logic of the linear spread of styles, it is worth analyzing the tendency of compensation of Europe's cultural map and the process of development of international style phenomena on one hand, and on the other hand, the development of new forms of cultural cooperation and of new social attitudes can be observed. A new line in the research of Hungarian art in the first third of the 13th century focuses on artworks showing a primary connection to faraway French gothic art centres. While analyzing the new church of Pannonhalma, built ca. 1220, and the sepulchral monuments of Pilis abbey (ca. 1230), the aim of this presentation is to find new viewpoints to the history of unusual and exceptional faraway connections, to the questions of channels and mechanisms of transregional cultural cooperation, to the special reasons and ways of long distance cultural transport. The recent inspiration of French models can be analyzed from and artistic geographical point of view as well, although its socio-historical connections are also of interest. The traceable channels of this phenomenon are mostly well-documented motivations of primarily political connections of ruling dynasties and their immediate environment.
The burial site and fragments of the tomb of Queen Gertrude of Andechs-Meran, first wife of King Andrew II (1205–1235) and a victim of assassination in 1213, were discovered during the excavations carried out in the Cistercian church of Pilis between 1967 and 1982. Her tomb was found along the central axis of the church, in the crossing. The present study, which includes the complete catalogue of the known fragments, attempts to establish the typology, iconography, and stylistic context of the artwork. New reconstructions are proposed for the two short sides of the sarcophagus-shaped tomb, which each bore distinct forms: one contained a wide, shallow niche, while the other depicted two standing figures under a double arcade. The figural ornaments on the sides of the tomb and the gisant with angels on the lid occupy an important place in the history of funerary art. In fact, the tomb displays one of the first examples of this type of decoration. The seated figures on the side relief probably represent the choir of saints in heaven, who provided companionship for the soul of the deceased queen. Gertrude herself is represented not only on top of the tomb, but also appears as a donor in one of the reliefs.
Stylistic analysis of the figures proves that their master came from the workshop responsible for the Last Judgment and Callixtus portals of the cathedral of Reims. He must have left the workshop around 1220, before the portals were completed and installed in the façade of the northern transept. At about this time, Villard de Honnecourt also embarked on his travels that took him from Reims to Hungary. The style of Gertrude’s tomb bears similarities to the Villard’s drawings, even if we do not wish to attribute the sculptures to him. A team of masons from Reims also arrived in Pannonhalma during this time frame and worked on the abbey church there. Their most important work in Pannonhalma is the southern portal of the new church, the Porta Speciosa. The complicated nature of these construction histories reminds us of the need for caution when attributing one work of art to one person.
Both Gertrude’s tomb and the Porta Speciosa are prime examples of the cultural and artistic period that began in the late 12th century, when the Kingdom of Hungary was a leader in the region in the reception of French Gothic.
The Porta speciosa of Esztergom •
Historical and iconological approach to the western portal of the medieval Esztergom Cathedral
This essay was carried out in the framework of a research programme (Thesaurus Mediaevalis, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2017–2022) funded by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and deals with one of the most complex but hardly accessible works of the Árpád period, the former main portal of the Esztergom Cathedral, which was decorated with sculptures and inlaid marble images. It was built in the last decade of the 12th century under King Béla III (1172–1196) and survived the Turkish invasion, but its remains were destroyed during the 19th century construction works. Since then, it exists only in textual sources, depictions and museum fragments. The present work aims primarily to collect and catalogue the fragments, but also to examine the structure of this work of exceptional quality, the artistic orientation of its workshop and the content of the images. It examines questions such as the history of the construction of the building, the sculptural quality of the fragments, which European art centres are related to them (including, in addition to the dominant role of the centres in northern Italy, the Byzantine influence conveyed by the various forms of transport), the circumstances under which the artists could have arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary, the inspiration for their art, what their knowledge and the needs of their clients reveal, and whether there were any interruptions, changes of plan or new beginnings during the construction.
Munkánk során tenyészedény-kísérlettel teszteltük az elektromos gyökérkapacitás (EC) mérés alkalmazhatóságát szójafajták gyökérnövekedésének és szárazságtűrésének in situ vizsgálata céljából. A kontroll és a szárazságstressznek kitett növények EC-jét rendszeresen mértük, végül biomasszájukat destruktív eljárással meghatároztuk.
Az EC mérésével jól detektálható volt a fajták eltérő gyökérnövekedési dinamikája és biomassza-produkciója. Az EC — fajtától és kortól függő intenzitással — a virágzás kezdetéig folyamatosan emelkedett, majd közel állandóvá vált. A fajták EC-je és gyökértömege szoros korrelációt mutatott a kontroll (R2=0,844) és a szárazságkezelt (R2=0,936) növényeknél egyaránt. A vízhiány 28,8–50,5%-kal csökkentette az egyes fajták EC-jét, ami összhangban állt azok hajtástömegeinek 25,5–49,1%-os, és levélfelületeinek (transzspirációjának) 23,6–51,5%-os csökkenésével, ugyanakkor több fajtánál lényegesen meghaladta a gyökértömegben mutatkozó veszteséget (12,6–47,3%). Ennek oka, hogy a szárazság hatására nőtt a gyökér/hajtás arány (3,9–21,9%-kal), ezért csökkent az egységnyi gyökértömegre eső (fajlagos) vízfelvétel, így a fajlagos EC is. Mindezt alátámasztotta az EC-gyökértömeg regressziós egyenes meredekségének csökkenése (kontroll: 0,437 nF/g gyökér; szárazságkezelt: és 0,317 nF/g gyökér). Megállapítható, hogy az EC a teljes gyökérrendszer felvételi aktivitását jelzi, így — a gyökértömeggel szemben — funkcionális mutatója is a gyökérzet aktuális állapotának.
Eredményeink alapján az EC mérése hatékony módszer a gyökérnövekedési dinamika fajtaspecifikus különbségeinek vizsgálatára, valamint a környezeti hatások okozta biomassza-veszteség becslésére. Az in situ eljárás a hagyományos technikák mellett az agrártudományi kutatások számos területén (pl. fajtaszelekció, stressztűrés-vizsgálatok) haszonnal járhat.
