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National cultural heritage, the Church of King St. Stefan is the oldest sacral building in Žilina in the district of Dolné Rudiny in Slovakia. The church was built in the Late - Romanesque style likely in the first third of the 13th century. It was created as a compact building as we know it until today. It has an oblong nave, a square choir and a semicircular apse. The church is located in an enclosed area bordered with a roofed fortification wall with an entrance gate and embrasures. A field chapel was built after the year 1700 in the south-eastern part of the ground. Originally the church was surrounded by a cemetery. In 1995 foundations of the razed Chapel of the God’s Body were discovered on the outer southern side of the choir and apse of the church. According to the archaeological survey it is possible to date its creation back to the break of the 14th and 15th centuries and its demise within the first half of the 16th century. The Church of King St. Stefan went through a number of changes on the interior decorations and also through minor adjustments of architectonic details during its existence. Only in the year 1762 a greater rebuilding was performed in the interior of the church nave. The original flat wooden beam (joist) ceiling was replaced with a baroque brick vault. The small late-Romanesque windows which were positioned in the height were bricked in and on the wall under them they were replaced with larger baroque ones. In the interior of the choir and the sanctuary are wall paintings. They are the most valuable part of the church decoration. In the year 1949 they were discovered by the academic painter Mojmír Vlkolačko (28.12.1915 – 25.10.2007). As he stated in various texts, he performed on his own the first partial uncover, on the 6th of January 1950. His keen painting restoration activity was from the year 1955 professionally guaranteed by the academic painter Peter J. Kern (31.1.1881 – 25.3.1963), who belongs to the first representatives of the professional restoration in Slovakia. The overall uncovering of the wall paintings was done in the period between 5.10. and 16.12.1955. The final approval report about the completion of restoration works is dated 12.12.1956. The minutes from one of the meetings state: “The paintings were uncovered from underneath two layers of plaster, locally up to 8 cm thick. Under the plasters there were paintings also covered with a coat of lime”. In the past a few specialised surveys were carried out in the church. Besides their specialised assignments, they always involved the architectural-historical survey of the church. In the year 1988 the heritage survey of the whole area, based on visual analysis, considered the possible development of the building in two stages. The sanctuary and the choir are considered to be the older building parts and the nave to be the newer extension. The archaeological surveys from the external side from the year 1995 and in the interior of the church made in 2000 were aimed also at the survey of the building foundations in the touch point of the choir with the nave and discovered one building stage. Since the discovery and restoration of the wall paintings, the first precise restoration survey was only executed in the year 2008. Unquestionable finds of the survey proved the conclusions of the archaeological survey about one stage of building - historical development. Further, together with the following restoration of wall paintings in the year 2009, they brought new and revealing finds in iconography, which significantly changed a part of its look as it was known since the restoration in the 50ies of the 20th century until now. The restoration survey used all required methods for assessment of the technical state of the wall paintings, verification of their historical development and definition of the extent of restoration interventions in the past century. It was widened by the cooperation with specialists from the field of natural sciences. It was oriented at the survey of the paintings in infrared reflectography, ultraviolet luminescence, survey of the plasters on walls and vaults with thermography and onto a large physical-chemical survey of the compound of the used pigments. The wooden historical constructions of the church and the finds of historical wood in the masonry underwent a dendrochronological survey. The ornithological - osteological survey studied further finds which were related to the historical existence of the church. From the art-historical point of view the painting was the subject of a large analytic-synthetical study. The whole survey proved that the decoration with wall paintings in the church‘s sanctuary was realised in four time varying stages. It was preserved in different technical qualities and extents. After the restoration in the 50ies in the conch of the apse, considering the time of their creation, two of the most distant paint layers were presented at the same time. In historical order, the fourth one – the newest painting of the four figures, likely Hungarian saints – partially covered the first one – the oldest paint layer, which in a linear way of painting, pictures the basic parts of a Gothic building construction and decoration – blind arched frieze, rustication (brickwork) and ribs with a keystone in the peak of the vault. From left to right:
View of the sanctuary before the restoration.
View of the sanctuary after the restoration.
General view of the church.
In the choir space of the vault there are three painting layers. The oldest, first linear painting is related to the oldest layer in the conch of the apse. On the sides of the vault a second layer of the painting is covered in historical order with the figures of the 12 apostles - 8 on the northern and 4 on the southern side. In the peak of the vault the third layer by order is the least preserved painting of Christ Pantocrator in mandorla, which is carried by angels.
The survey found that the painting of the 4 figures of saints in the conch was painted on multiple layers of lime coats which already at the time of its creation covered the oldest linear layer of Gothic architectural parts. The figures were preserved only fragmentally in the extent of ca. 20 – 30%. Until now their known aspect was due to the result of the artistic reconstruction from the first restoration. On the keystone of the peak of the conch in the apse we found important iconographical finds – the painted keystone, which had the shape of Christ solar symbol was an over painting. The original is the blessing Master’s Hand in the middle of its semicircle. The “sun flames” around the keystone were also over paintings. Originally they were four dog heads with the ribs coming out from their mouths. These finds are related to the oldest linear painting. Their symbolism, and so their whole oldest painting decoration, can be assigned to the influence of the order of Dominicans, who were active in Kláštor pod Znievom before the second half of the 13th century (1243 – 1248). One of the most important developments was the find of the uninterrupted continuation of the oldest linear paint layer - small rustication on the only preserved stone cornice on the northern corner of the nave’s arch of triumph and of the choir of the church. At the same time it was found that on the corners of both arches of triumph (nave - choir, choir - sanctuary) there are fragments of cut off stone cornices from the same type of stone. According to the finds they had also identical profiles. They were different only in size. They prove the 'one building stage' of the sanctuary, choir and of the nave of the church. The results of the restoration survey were the base for processing the new method of presentation of the paintings in the conch of the apse. With the aim to restore the original artistic-historical aspect of the sanctuary, the preserved extent and quality of the original enabled us to decide in favour of the presentation of only the oldest linear painting decoration. The process of restoration was chosen so that fragments of the paintings of the figures were not removed, but fixed and covered with lime coat. Even during the restoration works we recorded further important finds. During the removal of the secondary interventions from the repairs on the figures of the apostles we found bricked-in openings from a wooden beam which connected opposite sides of the arch of triumph on the corner of the nave and of the choir. The openings from the beam get wider deeper in the wall and continue into both corners of the eastern wall of the nave. In the corners they turn and continue in the northern and southern wall of the nave. Originally reinforcing beams, which probably rotted out, were placed there. Again, the openings are a proof about the creation of the whole church at the same time. In the openings vomit was found from barn-owls (Tyto alba). According to the ornithological–osteological survey the owls nested there for at least 20 years. That means that further in the past in a period not yet determined on the timeline the church was not used for a longer period. During the final cleaning of the oldest preserved plaster layer from the newer plasters on the northern and southern part of the eastern wall of the nave an important completely new find was discovered. Two until then unknown consecration crosses were found there. They are a further important piece of evidence of the architectural unity of the whole church already since the beginning of the 13th century. Their discovery, besides the finds in the conch of the sanctuary, brought a further new and outstandingly interesting document about the unique iconography of the church of King St. Stefan which was not met yet in Slovakia. Both newly discovered 'crosses' have no transverse arms. The northern one has only a vertical and the southern only an horizontal arm. In this way they disprove the existing idea about the consecration cross in the sanctuary regarding to the fact that it also has only one arm, which was considered to be unfinished or damaged. All three together, lead to the conclusion about a possible unknown meaning content and symbolism of these one armed crosses. The find increased the number of the medieval consecration crosses discovered until now in the church to five. The other two consecration crosses on the northern and southern walls of the choir known from before are typologically different. It is possible to assign the difference to their shape and colour adjustment, which is newer. In the peak of the vault choir is, according to the timeline of the creation, the third paint layer. Originally it portrayed Christ Pantocrator in mandorla which is carried by angels. The scene is preserved only in fragments. The reason of its damage was the plaster falling off in the past. The restoration in the years 1950 – 1956 only conserved its torso. Two by two, from left to right:
Painted keystone in the peak of the conch of the apse before and after restoration.
Find of the oldest linear rustication decoration on the northern cornice, before and after restoration.
Christ in mandorla in the peak of the choir vault before and after restoration.
During the restoration research in the year 2008 other small parts of the original mandorla scene were found which were not involved during the earlier restoration. After the removal of the fillings and proper final cleaning of all the painting remains, it was possible to realise the shape reconstruction of the angels. The central scene with the figure of Christ Pantocrator is preserved only in minimal fragments. Due to the need to reach visual and contextual unity of the painting, which is located in the living organism of the church, it was decided in cooperation with the methodical advisor from the Regional Heritage Office in Žilina to realise its hypothetic shape and colour reconstruction. In the row, the second historical paint layer with the figures of the apostles on the lower parts of the choir's vault is the art-historically most valuable artistic realisation in the interior of the church. The restoration survey on the figures did not bring any fundamental changes. It proved large extent of damage and large losses of the original in the past. The reconstruction of a part of draperies of the apostles’ clothing belongs, from an artistic point of view, to the best managed realisation of restoration in the 50ies. That is why, after our agreement with the methodical advisor, we decided to accept this artistic part. However, the low quality of large areas of fillings required their replacement. We copied the reconstructed parts of the draperies. After the replacement of the fillings the drawing was remade. On the northern part of the vault of the choir, during the removal of the fillings we recorded an interesting find. In the placing mortar of the vault’s masonry we found imprints of the original wooden moulding of the vault. They have shown that the moulding was built from various split wooden beams. The find cleared the reason why the surface of the vault is so distinctly uneven. Their extent was large enough to enable us again to return the original aspect to the figures and their draperies in a larger extent and more closely to the restoration performed in the 50ies of the 20th century. Two by two, from left to right:
The apostles on the northern vault of the choir during and after the restoration.
Surface survey in direct light and ranking light.
Conch of the apse before and after restoration.
The art-historical analytic-synthetical study which is a part of the research evaluates the painting decoration of the apostles with these words: “The wall paintings in the church of King St. Stefan in Žilina with regards to the proposed dating of the oldest layers (before 1250, respectively second half of the 13th century) belong to the most valuable evidences of medieval art preserved in Slovakia. The drawing of such quality and from this period as it is represented by the apostles from Žilina has no comparison not only in Slovakia or in surrounding countries. With their style, they represent the transitional phase between Romanesque monumental painting developing forms passed on through drawing templates and early Gothic style which manifested on them in livelier drapery, tendency to linear and more flowing drawing, communication among the figures and finally also with the decorative architectonic frame of the arcades”. An exhibition about the intervention and discoveries at the Church of King St. Stefan organised by the city of Žilina, Zbor Žilincov (Žilina Patriots) will take place between 4 August 2010 – 16 September 2010 at the Old Town Hall, Mariánske námestie 1, Žilina, Slovakia. Credits: Partners: Považské Museum in Žilina, Král Steffanus fine wines Preparation of the exhibition: Acad. painter Jozef Dorica English translation: Mgr. art. Barbara Davidson and Stevin John Davidson Photographs: from archive sources and from the authors’ archive Archaeological survey in the years 1995 and 2000 by Mgr. Jozef Moravčík Restoration research in the year 2008: by Acad. painter Jozef Dorica Technical cooperation: Pavol Santa Methodical advisor for restoration for the Regional Heritage Office in Žilina: Mgr. Emília Michalcová - Borošová Cooperation for the restoration research: Dr. Dušan Buran, RNDr. Miroslav Hajn, Ing. Eva Kľučková, Ing. Tomáš Kyncl, Ing. Ján Obuch Restoration in the year 2009: Academic painter Jozef Dorica, Head restorer, Mgr. art Július Karcoľ, Mgr. art Jana Koníková, Mgr. art Denisa Petrlová, Mgr. art Zuzana Weiglová, Milan Bagin, Róbert Tibenský, technical cooperation Juraj Dorica. Cooperation for the Roman-Catholic church: Ing. Ladislav Štefanec, church caretaker Specialised cooperation by the preparation of the exhibition: Mgr. Jozef Moravčík, Ing. Miroslav Pfliegel, Mgr. Peter Štánsky Curator of the exhibition: Academic painter Jozef Dorica The restoration of the wall paintings was financed from the grant system of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic “Obnovme si svoj dom” and by the Roman-Catholic church, parsonage Žilina city.
About the author
Jozef Dorica
Conservator-restorer
Academic painter Jozef Dorica (1949) is a conservator-restorer specialised in wall, panel and easel paintings. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, department of Painting Restoration under Prof. Karel Veselý. After graduation in 1975 he was active mainly as artist in fine arts. Between 1981 and 2002 he worked as restorer in the Slovak National Museum – Museum Bojnice. In 1990 he co-founded Restorers' Union (Obec reštaurátorov), of the Slovak Union of Fine Arts and in 1994 he cooperated in the establishment of the Chamber of Restorers (Komora reštaurátorov), from which he was the president for two mandates (2001-2005). At present he is the head of the Restoration commission as the advising body to the General Director of the Heritage Office of the SR in Bratislava. For his work he was awarded twice the annual prize of the Pamiatky a múzeá (Heritage and Museums) magazine and three times with the Fénix - cultural heritage of the year prize by the Foundation of the Slovak Gas Industry (SPP) and the Ministry of Culture of the SR.
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