Celebrating the month of architecture, we are presenting some special pencil drawings from the Print and Drawing Archives of the HMA MPDC as well as the person who made them. The collection preserves about 950 measured drawings by the architect József Stippek, who primarily specialized in the Baroque churches of Baranya and Tolna counties.
In 1923, Stippek offered his services to the historic preservation professionals of our country, which had lost a significant portion of its valuable buildings in the wake of the Treaty of Trianon. He understood that the surveying of the village churches in Hungary’s remaining territories was an important task, in particular when they were of medieval origin. His actions were guided by feelings of patriotism (“If my work might serve irredentism”), and he did not expect payment. In the next year, he sent 17 photocopies of measured drawings made of the Árpád period and Gothic churches in Szentsimon and Uraj, which now are part of the city of Ózd in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. The National Monuments Commission happily received the gift and indicated that they would gladly accept further work. The continuation took place in August of 1944, when Stippek offered up sketches and technical drawings from 240 churches in Baranya County. By this time, the shift in his interest towards the early modern period could be felt, since the great majority of the surveys were made of Baroque buildings. He asked for a total of 3,000 pengős (the equivalent of about 600 USD at that time) for the drawings. Kálmán Lux supported the valuable work, and recommended that they be purchased from the civil defense budget.
This is how the nearly one thousand drawings came into the possession of the Print and Drawing Archives. All of them provide evidence that this architect was a good draftsperson, was cultured, and had a good eye, recording numerous churches with great accuracy. He worked in pencil on A4 paper in general, and was extraordinarily frugal with the sheets (re-using them in many cases). However, there are also large numbers of ink drawings drafted on tracing paper. He surveyed the ground plans and the façades of the buildings, made cross-sections in two directions, and made sketches of the site plan in most cases as well. When he recorded the furnishings, he indicated the most important data (materials, techniques, dates) in brief captions around the sketch drawings. In numerous cases, he made perspective and detail drawings of architectural elements and examples of applied art that are well regarded by researchers even today. Since he documented the given conditions as faithfully as possible, Stippek’s drawings serve as trustworthy sources for construction history.
It is with precisely such attention to fine details that in October of 1926, József Stippek produced this Artwork of the Month, the measured drawings of the 18th century furnishings of the Sarlós Boldogasszony Church (Church of the Visitation) in Egerág near Pécs (inv. no. 1358). We can see the main and side altars, the pews, the holy water and baptismal fonts, the main portal as well as the leaves of the sanctuary and vestry doors (with their metal fittings drawn separately), the wrought iron bell, a candlestick, and the priest’s chair. Upon closer observation, it is possible to read for example that the gilded wooden candlestick is 75 cm tall and there are four of them. In addition, the pews are made of oak, the sanctuary door is made of walnut, there are traces of painting on the altars, and the metal fittings are drawn to scale (indicated as 1/4 and 1/5). Using an arrow, he indicated the location of the inscription on the former baptismal font carved from limestone, according to which it was made in the year of the Lord 1730. In the lower right hand corner, he signed his initials and indicated the date (16-17 October 1926).
We have relatively little knowledge about Stippek’s life. He pursued his architectural studies at the Hungarian Royal State Industrial Upper School for Construction, during which he participated in the summer student survey tour led by Ernő Foerk in 1912 and documented the fortified churches in the vicinity of Segesvár (Sighişoara, Romania). He restored the Józsefváros Parish Church, which was nearby his apartment in Budapest on 9 Jázmin Street. A point of interest is that during his significant work surveying churches, he collected about 40-50 18th and 19th century sculptures, which landed up in his family collection. Later, they were donated to the Hungarian National Museum along with other valuable objects and documents after his death in 1963.
The other products of his life’s work (about 160 items), which also contained measured drawings of Baranya County churches, made their way to the Department of Architectural History and Historic Monuments at the Budapest University of Technology. Negotiations to reunite and combine the collections is underway.
Author: Erika F. Dóczi
