ABSTRACT
During the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary was among the larger countries of Latin Christianity. Subsequently, geographers divided the kingdom into regions (Transdanubia, Upper Hungary, Transylvania, and the Great Hungarian Plain). Although these divisions are geographically useful, the medieval monuments of the Kingdom of Hungary do not necessarily follow their logic. Among known Romanesque churches, certain features can be found throughout the country (‘Lombard’ ground plans, western towers, and six-lobed rotundas). While a special style developed in western Hungary, where buildings were enriched with stone carvings featuring acanthus and palmette motifs in the 11th century, this style became widespread by 1100. Micro-regions – the Saxon Lands in Transylvania, for example, or the region around Ják – can be detected though their local styles do not develop to form a larger regional dialect. Regions within Hungary did not function as autonomous units, nor was there a powerful local aristocracy. Administration was centralised, and the nobility, which had estates in different parts of the country, often moved between regions. This probably explains the strong interregional artistic connections within the country.
