Gravura Roata Vieţii din Calendarul pe 100 de ani de la Buda, din 1814
The Engraving Life’s Wheel from The Calendar for 100 Years from Buda, 1814

Summary/Abstract: At the end of the XVIIIth century and the beginning of the XIXth century, the typography from Buda held an important position among the institutions of this kind, which used to print books for the Romanians. The number of laic books that were published here was bigger than that from the Romanian Countries, where the church and the princes exerted censorship upon publications. The printed works accomplished here were decorated with woodcuts, puncheon prints and lithographies. In The Calendar for 100 Years, made up by Nicola Nicolau from Braşov, and printed in Buda in 1814, there is an interesting puncheon print - the first one found by me in a laic published work , which came out in that printing house - entitled The Life’s Wheel. It is full of symbols, which I have tried to decrypt in this article. The illustration proves to have freemasonic connotations as well. The engraving Life’s Wheel was used as a model for the painting achieved by Ioan Eliazar from Valea Chioarului (as a laic named Lazar Toacaci). The picture was finished in 1833 and it can be seen in the wooden church from Răstoci (Sălaj County), whose patrons are Saints Archangels Michael and Gabriel.

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