Chandelry from the Hiador Sztripszky Máramaros Collection

Author: Krisztina Sedlmayr
Photoes: Krisztina Sarnyai

This month, on the 150th anniversary of his birth, the museum honours the memory of linguist Hiador Sztripszky, a Máramaros native whose life path was shaped by the enchanting landscapes, peoples, and languages of his home region.  Between 1909 and 1912, the young Sztripszky supplemented his humble income as deputy school inspector in the town of Máramarossziget by collecting artefacts for the Ethnography Department of the Hungarian National Museum.  In the lands of the Tisza River headwaters, he set himself to the study of local cultural phenomena, amassing significant collections of objects related to highland pastoral practices, woodworking, and the folk art of the Rusyn and Hutsul peoples. 

As a descendent of Greek Catholic cantors, however, his attention was drawn most to the ongoing replacement of the interior furnishings of the region’s wooden churches.  Centuries-old icons, liturgical objects, and other pieces were under threat, and in saving them from destruction, he became the founder of the Museum of Ethnography’s valuable Greek Catholic collection.  A handful of Sztripszky’s letters now filed in museum archives give account of both the circumstances of collection, and the results of his endeavours.  Generally, he would set off from Máramarossziget, travelling by train and horse-drawn carriage, to seek out the tiny villages that lay secluded among the region’s mountain peaks.  He had a sharp eye for ecclesiastical objects that had fallen out of use, including one-off ethnographic items of various types:  liturgical staffs, holy water sprinklers (aspersoria), incense holders (thuribles), clappers, and candle holders.  These valuable antiques he acquired either at the price of a few crowns, or by trading for the naturalistic oil prints that had become fashionable at the time.  For Sztripszky, condition was no object—even seriously deteriorated pieces were collected, with artefacts destined for the museum carefully packaged in crates for transport to Máramarossziget and, eventually, Budapest. 

Thus, in the summer of 1909, working in the region of Kőrösmező, Sztripszky found himself in possession of a large collection of sacred objects that included, notably, some two dozen pieces of chandlery.  Though most of these were standard candelabras, others were wall-mount sconces or large-scale standing candlesticks.  Here, the sense is that the collector was attempting, as was usual for ethnographers of the period, to provide the museum with a representative series of artefacts.   

Traditionally, the foundational icons of the Greek Catholic iconostasis form the backdrop for a row of console tables set with three-branched candelabras.  Often painted in vibrant colors, these carved Troica/Trinity-type candlesticks are emblematic of Rusyn folk art, their intricate carvings consistently featuring elements such as angels, rosettes, and pendants crafted to look like textile tassels.    The rosettes and flower heads, in the mind of the folk artist, serve as representations of the members of the Holy Trinity. 

Of the various candlesticks collected in the summer of 1909, three can be identified as originating from the wooden church of the Hutsul congregation in Kőrösmező.  The piece decorated with angels’ heads and cherubs in particular stands as a striking example.  The largest piece in the collection, a gilded candlestick, can be presumed, based on comparison to analogous artefacts, to have originally been decorated with a complete figural composition, of which today, only the two inward-leaning, praying figures remain. 

Because the narrow windows of such churches let in very little light, the naves were lit with flickering candles set into carved and painted wooden chandeliers.  On his 1909 trip, Sztripszky collected two such pieces, a green-painted specimen adorned with angels’ heads and one featuring six branches arranged in two circles.  The first was loaned to the Szentendre Open-Air Museum, where it remained on display for many years; while the second is on display here, at the Museum of Ethnography, for the first time since 1909. 

All pieces were restored by Natália Györök.