On the borderline of romanesque architecture: Village churches of szatmár county in the 13th-14th centuries

Béla Zsolt Szakács*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview Articlepeer-review

    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    The medieval architecture of the region of the Hungarian Great Plain (Alföld) is scarcely known. This paper analyses the northern part of the region, the historic Szatmár county (now part of Szabolcs-Szatmár- Bereg County in Hungary and Satu Mare County in Romania) where a great number of village churches has been preserved. Presenting the architectural structures, forms of sanctuaries, triumphal arches, decorative motives, portals, windows, and niches, this study concludes that forms typical of brick architecture were in use in the Northern Alföld but not so extensively as in other regions of the country. On the other hand, the forms in Szatmár county show a great variety, on occasion entirely unique versions. These forms are regarded to be characteristic for late Romanesque architecture. Because of historical reasons, the majority of these churches can be dated to the second half of the 13th century to the early 14th century. Consequently it seems that the limit of Romanesque architecture in this region can be moved to as late as to the 1330s, thus exceeding the traditional borderline of the Ápád-period (1301).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)209-234
    Number of pages26
    JournalActa Historiae Artium
    Volume52
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Dec 2011

    Keywords

    • 13th century
    • 14th century
    • Hornauslauf
    • Hungary
    • Romanesque architecture
    • Szatmár county
    • village churches

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