Lapidarium

The Lapidarium is dedicated to the ecclesiastical architecture in Bihor County in the beginning and the classical Middle Ages – the 11^th and 12^th centuries to the 15^th century, an interval characterized by the Romanesque and Gothic styles, extended from Western Europe towards the center part of the continent.

Two major types of church architecture are present here: the basilical one, with one or more naves (main or side), along with the hall churches, of much smaller dimensions. In Bihor, the Tămașda basilica is worth noting, founded by the Saxon settlers of the region, which, despite its partial state of ruin, impresses to this day.

Much more numerous are Romanesque hall-churches in Bihor which, despite a certain Eastern European Catholic influence, also attracted the Romanian, Orthodox environment. The constructive solutions in their case are much simpler, the nave is compact, square, as in Cacuciu Vechi, Parhida, Voivozi, or rectangular, as in Sânnicolau de Beiuș, Șișterea, Abram, Fughiu, Mișca, Albiș, the altar being semicircular, sometimes close to a horseshoe, in the case of those from Voivozi, Parhida, Sânnicolau de Beiuș, Șișterea, or semicircular inside and polygonal outside in Remetea, square or polygonal, as for example in Fughiu, Cacuciu Vechi, Abram, Albiș, Mișca, Săcueni, the first phase of the reformed church, Rădvani. In most cases, due to high costs, the hall-church did not have a tower, which was often added much later, the notable exceptions being from Sânnicolau de Beiuș and Albiș.

The Gothic architectural style, developed by derivation from Romanesque art, quickly received specific characteristics. With origins since the 12^th century in Western and Southern Europe, the Gothic architecture had a widespread in the central and central-eastern parts of the continent, still shy in the second half of the 13^th century, and especially in the interval of the 14^th to 16^th centuries.

The churches are of hall type and saloon type (with only one nave). The constructive solutions were the cross vaults on ogives and buttress arches, the builders thus avoiding the centrifugal pressure of vaults specific to the Romanesque style. The churches became taller, the windows were widened, the hallow masonry is preferred at their upper parts. The rosette appears on the pediment. The broken arch is much used in the case of openings, the portals presenting several successive retreats.

In Bihor, the most important achievement of the Gothic architecture was the episcopal cathedral, now disappeared, located in the current inner courtyard of the Princely Palace in the Fortress of Oradea, to which the Episcopal Palace, also lost, was added, being positioned southeast of the cathedral. In its front stood the statues of kings Stephen, Ladislaus and Emeric, made by the famous sculptors Martin and Gheorghe from Cluj. Ladislaus, considered a founder, also had an equestrian statue in 1390. Romanian art historians considered it to be the first hall-type church in Transylvania, with three naves, a polygonal choir, and numerous chapels. The façade of the monument had two imposing, rectangular towers. The cathedral and the Episcopal Palace dated from the end of the 13^th century and the beginning of the following one.

Besides the cathedral there are several churches that function as places of worship until today, some of them being transformations of former Romanesque buildings. The church from Tileagd, built in the 14^th-15^th centuries, with a beautiful mural painting, the church of the former Franciscan convent from Sălard, built in the first quarter of the 15^th century, with a superb Gothic funeral chapel and a tower preserved to this day, but also with interior fresco fragments, the „Church on the Hill” from Beiuș, those from Săcueni and Hodoș, the last one with fragments of mural painting, the Gothic phase of the church from Remetea with its famous wall paintings of Eastern and Western European descent.

The models in the exhibition room reproduce some of the most representative Romanesque monuments: Sânnicolau de Beiuș, Cefa – La Pădure, Voivozi, the last two now missing, and Gothic ones: the Episcopal Cathedral from Oradea, also nowadays gone. Copies of the frescoes from the Remetea church are also shown, them being remarkable because of their Byzantine-Orthodox and North-Italian, Catholic influences. The stone frames include a beautiful funerary slab from the now-disappeared church form Cefa – La Pădure, dated from the 12^th century, Romanesque and Gothic pieces from the Romanesque and Gothic Episcopal Cathedrals from the Citadel of Oradea, both now missing (12^th to 15^th-16^th centuries). A film made by the specialists of the museum shows the evolution and destiny of 14 Romanesque and 9 Gothic churches, some incorporating both styles, others nowadays disappeared, which functioned or are still active parishes in Bihor County.