Zoran Vukosavljev: Architecture of Serbian churches in Hungary , Budapest, : Serbian Institute : Sector for professional books of the company TERC Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Kft., 2013. editor and text editor: Pera Lastić
"The architecture of Serbian Orthodox churches in Hungary is a special part of the history of architecture. Baroque architecture fits into the interior of an Orthodox church. Orthodox ritual transforms the space, and differentiates it."
In our typological structure, we have shown the periods of sacral architecture of the Serbs who migrated to Hungary. This nationality, which was directly under the rule of the Viennese court, having come to an environment with a great architectural tradition, took on forms that were foreign to its culture. After centuries of slow development, Serbian church architecture blossomed in the luxurious Baroque. The new architecture acquired new concepts, and after decades of development, a type that corresponds to the Orthodox liturgical space has already been created.
The design intention originates from the Balkan late Byzantine architectural culture. This tradition, in some monuments, clearly shows a more direct connection with Serbian monasteries. However, thanks to new architectural solutions in the 19th century, a special architectural type is formed. The commitment to tradition is then reflected more in newer forms, and not so much in the imitation of old monuments. This is also reflected in its specificity. The society of the Habsburg monarchy in the 18th-19th centuries accepted various cultures. We have mentioned many times that Serbian culture was given the opportunity in Hungary for further development and for the merging of Western and Eastern Christian sacral architecture. Many architectural monuments arose in this new homeland in the Carpathian Basin, emphasizing this area that extends within the area from Crete to Petersburg, and where the art and culture of Eastern and Western Europe came together.
We interpreted the correctness of our typological structure based on a detailed analysis of architectural elements, that is, by determining its independent development, retrospectively. By analyzing the iconostasis as the most characteristic architectural-artistic-liturgical whole, we specified certain epochs.
We know that a second monographic analysis, as well as expanding the documentation of fieldwork to other monuments, can lead to a more precise typological structure and to a reinterpretation of the highlighted details. In this way, we can describe even more precisely the significant monuments of the history of Serbian architecture in Hungary, in which two traditions merge. This book is written on the basis of decades of thorough research work. We also presented the publications processed to date, as well as their interpretations, and in this way we wanted to determine a direction that could define the main categories of further research work.
