- Perhaps the most spectacular news this quarter comes from Egypt, where four different layers of (Christian) religious wall paintings ranging from the 8th to the 12th centuries were uncovered under 18th-century plaster in the church of the Deir Al-Surian Monastery. This appears to be a highly important discovery for a number of reasons, e.g. for including some unusual iconographic compositions, for the use of encaustic technique or for including graffiti in Coptic, Syriac, Greek and Arabic. For the full fascinating story read this extensive piece in Al-Ahram Weekly.
- Exciting new discoveries are also reported from France, where restoration works in the church of Notre-Dame in Chemillé-Melay (Maine-et-Loire) have brought to light murals of the 12th century, most importantly a battle scene in the transept and the Baptism of Christ surrounded by the Four Evangelist in the crossing. As works continue, the conservators hope to uncover even more paintings in the chancel where a first survey has already revealed promising traces of figurative scenes. For a more detailed report (in French) see here.
An apostle’s head, detail from the recently uncovered wall paintings in Kameňany/Kövi (see below). Photo borrowed from Zsombor Jékely’s Medieval Hungary blog, used under Creative Commons License BY-NC-SA 3.0
- In the Slovakian village of Kameňany (or Kövi in Hungarian – remember, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary until the First World War) important wall paintings dating to c. 1400 have been uncovered in the Parish Church. There’s a series of apostles in the apse, there are female martyrs as well as the Wise and Foolish Virgins in the jambs of the triumphal arch, while in the nave one now finds a Virgin and Child with St. Anne and a fragmented Last Judgement (the latter, to be precise, now in the attic above the Baroque vault). For more details, photos and an assessment of the discovery’s importance see this excellent (as usual) piece on Zsombor Jékely’s Medieval Hungary blog.
- Speaking of Hungary: The Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) network recently reported on a fundraising campaign initiated last year by the congregation at Abaújvár, Hungary, to help finance the uncovering and restoration of the medieval murals in their Parish Church. Presumably dating to the early 14th century, these paintings include scenes from the Lives of Jesus and of several saints. See here for the post on the FRH-website or here for more information on the campaign and some photos of the paintings in question.
- Unfortunately, though not unexpectedly, the wall paintings in Abaújvár are not the only ones in dire need of conservation: In Italy, news portal h24notizie recently featured a piece (in Italian) on the Trecento frescoes in the chapel of San Silviano in Terracina (Lazio), depicting figures of saints and, probably, the Virgin Mary. In this case, the local authorities had already promised to provide the necessary funds for a restoration a full ten years ago, in June 2004, but despite an appeal launched in March 2010 by an initiative called Terracina Rialzati, so far nothing has been done.
- In happier news, in Toledo, Spain, the restoration of late Romanesque wall paintings of the 13th century in the church of Cristo de Luz has recently been completed. For more information (in Spanish) and for photos of the paintings (Christ Pantocrator in the apse and several saints along the walls) see here or here.
- As the German Press Agency (dpa) reports, the restoration of the wall paintings in the chapel of St. Liborius in Creuzburg (Thuringia) was recently completed and, after seven years of work, the chapel is now open to the public again. Presumably painted in the first years of the 16th century (the chapel itself was completed in 1499), the murals show scenes from the Passion of Christ and from the Life of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia. For images of the restored paintings and more information on the chapel (in German) see here.
- Also in Germany, an extensive restoration campaign is underway in the church of St. Martin in Linz am Rhein to save the church’s rich heritage of wall paintings of the 13th to 15th centuries. This is a particularly challenging undertaking since the murals look back on a long but not always happy history of conservation and over-painting going back to the 19th century. For a more detailed account (in German) and some pictures see here.
- Meanwhile, back in Austria, a large-scale restoration campaign – started in 2013 and scheduled to be completed in 2016 – is underway at Bruck Castle in Lienz, the late medieval residence of count Leonhard von Görz. In April and May of this year, conservators took a first survey of the wall paintings in the castle chapel, executed in the late-15th century by Simon von Taisten. Restoration work on the paintings is expected to resume in autumn. For some pictures of the murals and of the conservators at work see this short news piece (in German) on the website of the city of Lienz.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Christian Nikolaus Opitz (June 30, 2014). Medieval Wall Painting News 2/2014. Camera Picta. Retrieved January 18, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/m6qr