clan monasteries, wall-paintings

Ják - Church 6
Zsámbék - Church
Türje - Church
Vizsoly - Church 1
Ócsa - Church 2
Esztergom - Gisela chapel
clan monasteries (family monasteries)

The first Hungarian monasteries were founded by kings. Their example was followed by dignitaries, who became gradually involved in architecture. They built clan - mainly Benedictine and Premontrean - monasteries, over which they had legal authority. They provided patronal defence and material support for the monastery people, where themselves and their families were buried. These so-called clan churches are the most beautiful examples of 12-13th-century Roman and early Gothic architecture. They were usually built in a basilica arrangement with three naves. Their front and western facades were decorated with twin-towers. This twin-tower arrangement and the choir between the towers are the special characteristics of Hungarian Roman-style architecture. The bottom of the towers is the continuation of the nave. Clan churches had richly decorated gates, windows and capitals; and according to the fresco fragments they used to have rich inner decoration. The church of Zsámbék (Premontrean) was built by Aynald, a French knight around 1255, later it got into the hands of Emerald; the church of Lébény and Ják were Benedictine. The latter one is the most sophisticated, built by the Ják clan around 1220-30, before the Türje one (Premontrean) in 1230.

wall-paintings

The collective name of pictures and mosaics on walls. Wall-paintings are divided into different categories according to the techniques they were made by: there are "al secco" paintings painted to the dry plaster, and "al fresco" paintings painted to the wet plaster.

KT