Few such representations have survived in the Carpathian Basin, in Csíkmenaság and Csíkszenttamás in Székelyföld there is one work each from the 1300s and 1400s.
In Gyergyószentmiklós, as the opening of the program series of the Saint Nicholas Days, one of the medieval art treasures of the Saint Nicholas Church, the Pietà statue of the former Sorrowful Virgin Chapel, made in the 15th century, was presented to the public.
The linden statue depicting the Sorrowful Mother was noticed by Ferenc Mihály, a wood restorer from Szováta, at the church history exhibition organized in 2023 in the treasures of St. Nicholas Church in Gyergyó.
He first presented his research results so far at the Transylvanian Hungarian Restorer Training Conference in October, and then presented the statue in Gyergyószentmiklós, as the leader of the town days, and explained the expected restoration processes.
– The work depicts the Sorrowful Mother, the episode when Christ is taken down from the cross and the mother weeps. The cult starts in Constantinople, its respect was developed in Byzantium, and then in Italy, in the 13th century, we can see it in various images.
It came to German territory through Italian mediation, where in the 14th century this type of representation of the painful mother, the Pietà, was created, which forms a separate group among sculptural monuments. The type of statue, along with the cult and respect associated with it, reached the eastern-northeastern part of Europe through the mediation of monks. The creation of such and similar works can be attributed to the period around 1380–1420.
Few survive in the Carpathian basin; in our region, in Csíkmenaság and Csíkszenttamás, there is one work each from this period - Ferenc Mihály explained the research results so far.
He added: it would be too early to answer the question of where it was made and who could have made it, but since at the end of the 14th century, at the beginning of the 15th century, in the time of King Sigismund, there is no information about an urban center in Székelyföld that would have had a spiritual and material background to be provided for works of art of this kind, so it is presumably a imported work.
Rita Bernád, director of the Archdiocese Archives of Gyulafehérvár, is helping to find the written sources, and the restoration work is being supported by literary and cultural historian Edit Madas, a researcher at the National Széchényi Library. Ferenc Mihály said: the work was painted over in six to eight layers in different periods, these layers are removed one by one, not only to find out what is underneath, but also to get more information about the history of the statue.
- These repaintings were carried out in all ages according to the available possibilities and techniques: originally, they were painted with natural materials - egg, egg, later, starting in the 19th century, with oil paint. The layer currently visible is a bronze powder oil paint applied in the twentieth century. We strive to see as much as possible of what it was made for and as little of our work as possible - emphasized the specialist.
The parish wants to add to the city's culture and contribute to making its history known.
- We would like to show the cultural manifestations stemming from the Christian spirit, thereby raising awareness that our predecessors created value 600-700 years ago, of which we can be proud - pointed out Archdeacon György Dávid.
The restoration work is expected to take a year: after that, the statue will be returned to the St. Nicholas Church, in the middle of the Mary altar. Before its restoration, the Pietà statue can be viewed by anyone in the church until December 8.
Cover image: Pietà statue, one of the pride of the people of Győrgyo
Source: Hargita Népe/ Boncina-Székely Szidónia
