Gothic and Renaissance Panel Paintings in the Esztergom Christian Museum [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION The most important provinciai art gallery in Hungary, the Christian Museum at Esztergom - at the same time one of the richest collections of fine arts in the country - looks back on a past of nearly one hundred years. The Museum's international renown, its high rank from the scholarly point of view, and its wealth, astonishing for a country museum, are due to the dedicated, systematic collecting activity of the founder, Cardinal János Simor (1813 to 1891), Primate, Archbishop of Esztergom and of Bishop Arnold Ipolyi (1823-1886), both ready to go all length as regards financial sacrifices. These great amateurs of art had the primary aim of saving the swiftly decaying, irreplaceable relics of old Hungárián art, testifying to our national past. The ravages which the country suffered during the 150 years of Turkish occupation, and the suceeding centuries spared but few relics of the flourishing Hungárián art of the Middle Ages. For the survival of the probably most important panel paintings of medieval Hungary we are indebted to two eminent nineteenth-century collectors. The enthousiastic interest in the fine arts of Cardinal Simor, a generous patron of arts, and the dedication to scholarly research of Bishop Ipolyi rescued these medieval relics from oblivion and decay; due to their efforts, the first National Gallery of old Hungárián painting came into being in the Christian Museum.