The Art of the Avars [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONDuring the period of the Great Migration the country now known as Hungary was repeatedly overrun by waves of nomads, who, settling for longer or shorter periods in the basin of the Danube and the river Tisza, left behind them rich traces of their sojourn preserved in the soil. Until the coming of the Magyars at the end of the ninth century A.D., it was the people known as Avars who had dominated this area for the longest period, some 250 years. Today, thanks to the excavation of thousands of their burial places by archaeologists and the wealth of objects thus discovered that can be studied in Hungarian museums, it is possible to form some idea of their way of life. It is the purpose of this booklet to provide a brief survey of their artistic achievement.There are several reasons why up to the present no comprehensive treatment of the art of the Avar period has been published. In the first place, even today the origin of the Avar people itself remains a matter of controversy. Moreover, while we have a broad general knowledge of their history, a whole century of it remains unexplored owing to the absence of written sources. Again, very little is yet known about the artefacts produced by the various artistic centres by which the art of the Avars was strongly influenced. Indeed, we cannot with any certainty trace the whereabouts of these centres. Lastly, the correct attribution and classification of the archaeological finds is further hampered by the fact that so many different peoples, each with its own distinct artistic tradition, were at one time or another absorbed into the Avar empire, or confederation. Thus, until these problems have been satisfactorily solved, any treatment of the artistic remains of the Avar empire must necessarily remain incomplete. Nevertheless, such