The Five Hundred Years History of the Kisszeben High Altar
The latest attraction of the Old Hungarian Art Collection in the Hungarian National Gallery
MúzeumCafé 41.
The golden age of late Gothic winged altars was from the late 15th century to the 1520s. Collecting by museums began in parallel with an interest in Gothic art in the 19th century. In the past centuries the structural parts of an altar were naturally the most precarious. The acquisition of the three altars of Kisszeben by the Museum of Applied Arts in 1897 is due to Kornél Divald (1872–1932). They were replaced by neo-Gothic altars which followed the original altars in the new style. The winged altar was one of the largest altar structures in Central Europe and it is the largest of altars held in museums in this region today. It is exhibited in the former state-room of the Buda Royal Palace as part of the unified collection of the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. The former size of the altar can only be deduced. Without the mensa but with the predella and the tabernacle its present height is 410 centimetres, the width together with the rigid wings is 660 cms. Its height with the decoration still being restored will approach seven metres. Its original height must have been around 11 metres. Records show that winged altars were closed most of the year except for important ecclesiastical holidays (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) and in this case on the saint’s day of the patron of the church, St. John the Baptist, and usually on each holy day of the Virgin Mary. At those times the congregation could see the richly carved tabernacle and the gilded volets of the wings. One of the tabernacle statues, which are somewhat larger than life-size, represents St. John the Baptist, on the right of the Madonna and in the company of St. Peter. Opening the altar, the paintings on the volets of the movable wings depict the life of St. John the Baptist in eight scenes, while when the altar is closed originally 16, at present 12 images representing the text of the Credo can be seen. Of these eight are in their original place on the rigid wings and four are independent of the altar. Two dates help to determine when the altar was made: 1490 can be seen painted on the middle frame of the outside of the right moveable altar wing, while 1516 can be read in red crayon on the rear side of The Transfiguration of Jesus on the left rigid wing. Written documents and photographs, as well as the work of art itself, reveal information about its restoration. The altar was first ‘restored’ rather early, in the first half of the 17th century. “Johannes Czernak 1624 die F. Mich. Archangeli” can be read at the bottom edge of the gilding on the slanting left part of the tabernacle. This may refer to the first major renovation of the altar when it was re-gilded and other repairs must have been made. So far Baroque repainting has been removed from 13 works of the altogether 24 paintings of the altar. Of these the first, top painting on the left rigid altar wing, The Creation of the World, can be seen restored for the first time. The rigid wings still show the Baroque repainting on scenes such as The Transfiguration of Jesus, Christ’s Descent into Hell and Christ’s Ascension. The pictures of the right moveable altar wing, which are in the worst condition, are not exhibited. The altar, especially the addition to the decoration, was renovated a year after it had been taken to the Museum of Applied Arts in 1898, as can be concluded from the inscription of the carved inlay above one of the rigid wings. In 1909 the altar was passed on to the Museum of Fine Arts, which had opened three years before, but director Elek Petrovics had it exhibited permanently only on 4 September 1928 in the museum’s Marble Hall. When Budapest was bombed in 1944 during World War II, the altar was dismantled and placed in the cellar. As a result of broken windows and snow drifts, damp affected it in 1945. The preservation of the panel paintings and statues in the worst condition immediately began in the Museum of Fine Arts after 1945. Following conservation in the Fine Arts Museum, the dismantled pieces of the altar were packed in 1973 and moved to the Royal Palace in Buda. The altar, together with the Old Hungarian Art Collection under the same inventory number, was acquired by the Hungarian National Gallery. Its renovation could continue only after the State Hall had opened and the smaller altars had been set up. In 1991 an art history survey in relation to restoration was conducted about the whole altar, and until the end of the 1990s a large number of the statues and one panel painting were being restored. The monumental effect of the artwork in its architectural unity, which originally was well suited for the Gothic church, can only be imagined in 2014. A new chapter began in the history of the altar with the restoration of the architectural elements, the predella and the tabernacle, which was significantly supported by funds won from the ministry and the National Cultural Fund between 2002 and 2013.