CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

1. Above: The pulpitin the Black Church,Brasov, flanked by‘Lotto’, ‘Transylvan-ian’ and a variety of west Anatolianniche rugs

2. Right: ‘Ghirland-aio’ two-medallionrug, west Anatolia,mid-15th century.1.30 x 1.87m (4'3" x6'2"), 840 kn/dm2.Alberto Boralevimust be thankedfor rediscoveringand dating this rug,which is one of themost spectacularrugs in the Transyl-vanian holdings.The minor ‘S’ chainborders are similarto those on other15th century exam-ples such as theDragon and Phoenixrug in Berlin’sIslamic Museum;Schmutzler 1933,pl.8. EvangelicalChurch, Hålchiu,no. 23

The churches and museums ofTransylvania safeguard thegreatest legacy of small-format

Ottoman rugs in the Western world:almost four hundred examples inc-luding ‘Holbeins’, Ushaks, ‘Lottos’,‘Selendis’ and ‘Transylvanians’,many in astonishingly good condit-ion, attributable to the golden per-iod of Turkish weaving from themid-15th to the mid-18th century.

No complete explanation hasever been provided for this fascin-ating cultural phenomenon. Weremain challenged by the questionof why so many rugs have survivedin the Reformed Churches of theSaxon minority of Transylvania,who for centuries have shared theregion with a Romanian (Orthodoxand Catholic) and a Hungarian(Catholic and Calvinist) population.

The rugs are an important part ofthe cultural inheritance of Romaniaas well as being the most significantrepository of Turkish art in south-east Europe, an area for so longunder the military domination of

the Ottoman Empire. Without attempting a resume of

the region’s complex history, weshould note that Transylvania (likethe other Romanian principalitiesof Moldavia and Wallachia) nevercame under direct Turkish occupa-tion. Until 1699 it maintained thestatus of an autonomous princi-pality, paying tribute to the SublimePorte. By contrast, part of Hungarywas designated a Pashalik followingthe Battle of Mohacs in 1526, andwas under Turkish occupation forover a century and a half.

Surviving documents confirmthat the principal way rugs arrivedin Transylvania was through tradewith the Turks. The Saxon townsof BraÎov (Kronstadt) and Sibiu(Hermannstadt), on main routes toCentral Europe, became influentialtrading centres.1 The trade lastedfrom the mid-15th to the end ofthe 18th century, a period thatcorrelates with the age of the Turk-ish rugs preserved in Transylvania.

Documents only provide a very

partial idea of the extent of thistrade. However, it is likely thatmany thousands of Turkish rugsarrived in Transylvania, of which asubstantial number remainedthere. The Balkan nations and theRomanian principalities south andnorth of the Danube were alsocrisscrossed by this trade, andoriental carpets were highly prizedin these regions. Why then havethey only survived in significantnumbers in Transylvania?

The reasons for this pheno-menon are associated above allwith the ways in which the rugswere used and valued. A crucialfactor in their survival was the factthat so many rugs came into theownership of the Saxon EvangelicalChurches, mainly as pious dona-tions from parishioners, benefact-ors or guilds. Church communitiesnever bought rugs, nor raised cus-toms duties, and there is no recordof merchants making such donat-ions. But in the austere andaniconic spirit of the early Refor-mation, they were considereddecent, and indeed suitable, decor-ation for recently denuded (formerCatholic) churches. And when usedby parishioners to mark out theirpersonal space in the church, theyalso subtly hinted at the wealthand prestige of their owners.

Today, while many rugs remainthe property of the same Saxonchurches,2 a significant number arealso preserved in Romanianmuseum collections and a few inthe Hungarian Reformed churches.

The Brukenthal Museum inSibiu has the most importantinstitutional collection in Tran-sylvania and Romania. It holds 43classical Turkish rugs, including afamous small-pattern ‘Holbein’,(Schmutzler, pl.10). The rugs weretransferred to the museum around

Transylvanian TaleSTEFANO IONESCU

A four-year project to research and catalogue all 15th to 18th century Ottoman rugs inTransylvania will shortly be published, with extensive colour illustrations, in English,Italian and Romanian editions. The author, who is the driving force behind the project,dicusses its background and discusses one of the rug world’s most intriguing mysteries.

52 I H A LI 137

Ale

x M

argi

nean

CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

H A LI 137 I 53

All

phot

os A

rpad

Udv

ardi

Bra

shov

CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

3. Left: ‘Transylvan-ian’ six-column rug,west Anatolia, mid-17th century. 1.15 x1.79m (3'9" x 5'10"),1,300kn/dm2. Formany years incor-rectly thought to bethe rug publishedas pl.25 in the 1977Dall’Oglio reprintof Végh & Layer,this is a particularlybeautiful exampleof the small groupof ‘coupled-column’prayer rugs with atriple-arched nichedesignated ‘type I’by May H. Beattie.This sub-group haslateral arches withunindented out-lines, no hangingornament or lamp,fields that arealmost always red,and the bases ofthe thin columnsmirror the capitals.It is also typicalthat above theniche there is acrenellated friezeand a deep panelwith nine to elevenlong-stemmedflowers. The mainborder is based ona curvilinear dia-mond cartouche.Black Church,Brasov, no.227

4. Right: Selendi‘Scorpion’ rug,west Anatolia, mid-17th century. 1.16 x1.91m (5'3" x 6'3"),620 kn/dm2. Firstpublished here, thisinteresting rug, verysimilar to one in theBudapest Museumof Applied Arts, isone of only fourknown with thisrare design. The bi-colour rosetteand hooked leafborder appears insome ‘Lotto’ rugs.Black Church,Brasov, no.373

1910 from the great Parish Churchand the so-called Asylum Church,both in Sibiu, and from otherminor Saxon parishes.

The History Museum of Transyl-vania in Cluj-Napoca has a lesswell-known collection, includingeleven pre-19th century Ottomanrugs, acquired between the end ofthe 19th century and 1914, mostlyfrom northern Transylvania.

For several generations of rugscholars and enthusiasts, the prim-ary source of information on theTurkish rugs from Transylvaniawas Altorientalische Teppiche in Sieben-bürgen, the monumental study pub-

lished in 1933 by Emil Schmutzler,a member of a prominent Saxonfamily from BraÎov and a highlyknowledgeable carpet collector.His book is of unique document-ary value. Not only did he under-take the first complete inventoryof the collections, identifying 440rugs in over forty Saxon Churches,but he provided a photographicrecord of each of the 55 rugs hediscussed, enabling a comparisonto be made with the state of eachpiece some seventy years later.

At the time when Schmutzlercarried out his research, rugs werealready rapidly disappearing from

the collections. He wrote that:“The greedy hands of the merchants triedin every possible way to lay hold of theseobjects. When honesty was no longerpossible, they bribed the sextons and theycut up valuable items so as to removethem at night through the loopholes of thefortified church walls”.3

It is evident that this activityhad begun several decades earlier.Writing in 1907, Ernst Kühlbrandtstated that during the last decadesof the 19th century “several hundredsof rugs were bought by rich collectorsfrom Western Europe”.4 In many caseswe have precise evidence thatTransylvania found itself serving as a main source not only for rugs belonging to the so-called‘Transylvanian’ group but also forother classical Turkish groups suchas Ushaks, ‘Lottos’ and white-ground ‘Selendis’.

Many of the Turkish rugs inHungarian museums were sourcedin this region. The Christian Mus-eum in Esztergom holds the import-ant collection of Arnold Ipoly,including 18 Turkish rugs, assem-bled in the second half of the 19thcentury.5 In 1917, six rugs and twofragments of a ‘Memling-gül’carpet belonging to Emil Sigerus, ahistorian from Sibiu, were sold tothe Museum of Applied Arts inBudapest,6 which had acquiredother rugs from the DiocesanCouncil of Calvinist Churches afew years earlier.7

In Vienna, the Museum of App-lied Arts holds five Ottoman rugsacquired in 1907-1908 from B. Grünblatt, a Saxon dealer inSibiu.8 London’s Victoria & AlbertMuseum also has a double-nicherug of Transylvanian origin, acces-sioned as early as 1889.9

It is also highly probable thatmany Ottoman rugs in privatecollections in Hungary and Austriacame from Transylvanian sources,even if there is now little like-lihood of tracing provenance inmost cases. Not only the confiden-tiality of the marketplace but thepassage of time and the politicalupheaval of two World Wars haveresulted in the loss of docu-mentary and other evidence. Veryoccasionally inscriptions identi-fying Saxon donors reveal that arug was once the property of aSaxon Church in Transylvania.10

54 I H A LI 137

CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

As far as collections in Britainare concerned, an interestingpiece of anecdotal evidence is pro-vided by Edmund de Unger.Writing in the introduction to the1978 catalogue of the Keir Collec-tion, he recalls how as a youngman he bought his first carpet (aSelendi ‘bird’ rug) from a HungarianReformed Church near TârgulMureÎ in 1935, while cyclingthrough Transylvania.11

As we assembled documenta-tion for Antique Ottoman Rugs inTransylvania, evidence emerged thatshed light on the way in which, asa runner and dealer in antiquecarpets, Teodor Tuduc played a keyrole in the depredation of the rugcollections held both by churchesand individuals in Transylvaniabetween 1930-1960.

It is clear that Transylvania hasbeen a major source of OttomanTurkish rugs for public and privatecollections around the world. Inassessing the real number of rugsthat survived in the area, this mustbe taken into account.

A further question then arises.Why, in spite of their attractionfor collectors and the frequentreferences to rugs in the special-ised literature, have the collectionsin Transylvania been little studiedand never published as a whole? Anumber of factors have made suchan undertaking difficult. First, thecollections have been carefullysafeguarded by the churches andhave thus remained relatively inac-cessible. Nor, over the years. hasthere been any sign of the emer-gence of a local school of art his-torians dedicated to the study oforiental rugs. Little has beenpublished since Schmutzler,12 andthere is hardly anything in theRomanian language about theTransylvanian legacy.

Further problems are posed bythe number of vague (often undoc-umented) explanations for thepresence of the rugs in thechurches, and in particular by thepersistent theory of their presumedextra-Anatolian provenance. Eversince the rugs in the Black Churchwere first catalogued by Kühlbrandtin 1898 (at the instigation of AloisRiegl) they have been consideredto be of Anatolian origin, and thatis still the opinion of most experts.

Nevertheless, Charles Grant Ellis’squirky hypothesis that some of therugs might have been produced inthe Balkans under Ottoman pro-vincial rule, has had a disproport-ionate press and continues tomuddy the water, despite the lackof any documentary evidence.

An additional stumbling blockhas been the presence in the collec-tions of so many ‘Transylvanian’

group rugs, often excellently pre-served, compared to the very smallnumber found in Turkey. Attentionis rarely drawn to the fact that rugsof this type, in all its familiarvariants (single and double-niche,prayer and column rugs), are alsoto be found in museums in Turkey,13

as well as in Beirut14 and Cairo.15

Inevitably too the hostility ofthe former communist regime in

H A LI 137 I 55

CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Romania has played its part inblocking or suffocating any initia-tives regarding an artistic legacybelonging almost in its entirety tothe churches of the Saxon minority.

Against this background, fouryears ago we embarked on theAntique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvaniaproject, now nearing completion.Our aim was to publish an up-to-date, thoroughly researched andaccessible study of the Transyl-vanian rug phenomenon, intendedprimarily for carpet lovers. In thisventure we have been fortunate inhaving the generous support of theSuperior Consistory, the governingbody of the Evangelical Churches,and the Brukenthal Museum.

The book investigates the his-torical phenomenon of the Tran-sylvanian collections, illustratingover 260 pre-19th century rugs incolour. These include the entirecollection at the Black Church, aswell as rugs from the great hold-ings at MediaÎ and SighiÎoara, and

from all the lesser collections,many of which contain remarkablepieces such as the wonderful‘Ghirlandaio’ rug (2) from Hålchiu(Heldsdorf). We also publish 14examples from Bistrita, whichowned one of the most interestingof all the Turkish rug collections,numbering 57 pieces at the time ofSchmutzler’s inventory. In 1944,

the rugs were taken out of Transyl-vania in circumstances that havenever become clear, and remain inthe Germanisches Nationalmus-eum in Nuremberg to this day.16

The project has been the occas-ion of positive and wide-reachingdialogue with the evangelical par-ishes who own the rugs. The frien-dly collaboration of the pastors ofthese churches has been invalu-able: the Reverend Christian Plajer(BraÎov), Reinhart Guib (MediaÎand district) and Bruno Fröhlich(SighiÎoara) also took it uponthemselves to enlist the support oftheir parishioners for our work.

Prior to photography inside thechurches by local photographerArpad Udvardi, over 150 rugs werewashed by conservation specialists.Technical analysis was carried outby a team headed by Rodica Dinu-lescu of the Brukenthal Museum,in collaboration with AlbertoBoralevi, who also catalogued allthe rugs.

An important part of the projecthas been the relaunch of a conser-vation initiative carried out formany years by Era Nussbächer inBraÎov. In 2002 all the Black Churchrugs (some 140, including those instore) were washed and conserved.Two years later, in an attempt toincrease the number of piecesexhibited, six rugs from the Parishof Petersberg near BraÎov, unseenfor years and including the oldest‘Lotto’ in Transylvania (7), wereadded to the Black Church display .

In 2002 the MediaÎ rugs werewashed and conserved and arenow displayed on the white wallsof the choir and over the parapetsof the gallery of the Church of St

5. Above: ‘Transyl-vanian’ and white-ground ‘Selendi’rugs hanging in StMargaret’s Evangel-ical Church, Medias

6. Left: ‘Transylvan-ian’ single-nicherug, west Anatolia,first half 17th cen-tury. 1.22 x 1.54m(4'0" x 5'2"), 1,600kn/dm2. The impactof this rare andpreviously unpub-lished rug is due tothe highly satura-ted red, blue andochre palette. Thebasic layout is thatof a prayer rug, butthe field is richlyornamented withdecoration usuallyseen in double-niche rugs with thevase motif. Rugs ofthis sub-groupshow greatconsistency indesign elements,with arabesque-spandrels, star andcartouche mainborders, reciprocaltrefoil secondaryborders and chain-link guard borders.Formerly in theEvangelical Church,Valea Viilor (Wurm-loch), no.21, now in St Margaret’sChurch, Medias

56 I H A LI 137

CHURCH & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Margaret (5). In 2004 twelvecarpets and fragments from smallerlocal parishes were transferred toMediaÎ. Among these are a single-niche Transylvanian (6), a numberof Lottos, and a Holbein fragment.17

This brings the MediaÎ holding upto almost forty pieces, includingfragments, making it second inimportance to the Black Church.

The Brukenthal Museum hasalso begun to include some rugs onrotation in its permanent displays,while late 2003 saw the opening ofthe Museum of Art Collections inBucharest. The displays include anumber of important rugs, amongthem a rare single-niche ‘Transyl-vanian’. The museum also holdsthe only ex-Schmutzler Collectioncarpet (a ‘Lotto’) still in Romania.

Looking to the future, in 2007Sibiu will be designated EuropeanCapital of Culture. The RomanianMinistry of Culture has committeditself to a remarkable project thatwill make possible, for the firsttime, the public display of all 380Ottoman carpets in the churchesand museums that have safe-guarded them for so long.

Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transyl-vania, with over 260 colour illustrations, ispublished by Stefano Ionescu, with contrib-utions by Alberto Boralevi, Andrei Kertesz,Mircea Dunca, G. Schmutzler and others.

H A LI 137 I 57

NOTES1 | Successive Hungarian kings grantedthese towns the right to levy duties.2 | Some of the inscriptions prove thata rug has been in the same church forover 350 years, making these amongthe world’s most stable rug collections.3 | Emil Schmutzler, Altotrientalische Tep-piche in Siebenbürgen, Leipzig 1933, p.17.4 | Ernst Kühlbrandt, ‘Unsere altenKirchenteppiche’, in Die Karpathen,I, Kronstadt 1907.5 | Arnold Ipoly, the Catholic Bishopof Oradea in Transylvania (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire),

assembled an important collection inthe second half of the 19th century. 6 | Ferenc Batári, Ottoman Turkish Carpets,Budapest 1994, nos.2, 9, 10, 12, 27, 31, 46.7 | Ibid., nos.21, 83.8 | Angela Völker, Die orientalischenKnüpfteppiche im M.A.K., Vienna 2001;MAK 6636-6639/1907 and T 6907/1908.9 | VAM 225.1889; A.F. Kendrick, Victoriaand Albert Museum. Guide to the Collection ofCarpets, London 1915; HALI 6/4, 1984,p.360, pl.IV.10 | A rug in a Hungarian privatecollection (Dr Keszler, J.R. Irma,Budapest) bears the inscription:

“TESTAMENTV D: MICH: GROS”; see KárolyCsányi, Sandor Csermelyi, KárolyLayer, Erdélyi török szönyegek kiállitásánakleiró lajstroma, Budapest 1914, no.216. 11 | Friedrich Spuhler, Islamic Carpets andTextiles in the Keir Collection, London1978, p.2512 | The only book on the subject isAndrei Kertesz-Badrus, Turkische Tep-piche in Siebenburgen, Bucharest 1985, inGerman, which illustrates 100 rugs,mostly in black and white. Kertesz isalso the author of several articles inGerman, Romanian and English.13 | See, e.g., Nazan Ölçer et al., Turkish

Carpets from the 13th-18th Centuries, Istanbul1996.14 | Exposition de Tapis D’Orient, MuséeNicolas Sursock, Collection SulaymanAlamuddin, Beirut 1963.15 | M. Mostafa, Turkish Prayer Rugs, Collec-tion of the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo 1963.16 | The rugs are apparently still storedin the Nuremberg Museum, where theirfuture remains uncertain; see ‘Transyl-vanian Intrigue’, HALI 72, 1994, p.55.17 | Charles Grant Ellis, ‘Ellis in Hol-beinland’, in Robert Pinner & WalterB. Denny (eds.), Oriental Carpet & textileStudies I, London 1985, p.72, R-55.

7. Right: Ushak ‘Lotto’ rug, west Anatolia,second half 16th century. 1.21 x 2.01m (4'0"x 6'7"), 1, 340 knots/dm2. Arguably the mostbeautiful of the Transylvanian ‘Lottos’ andperhaps the oldest, distinguished by therefined yellow-ivory and blue arabesques ofthe field and the rare meander border withpalmettes and infinite knots on a blueground. The elegant ‘Anatolian-style’ fielddecoration is perfectly symmetrical on bothvertical and horizontal axis; Schmutzler1933, pl.19. Formerly in the EvangelicalChurch of Sânpetru (Petersberg), inv.13,now in the Black Church, Brasov