Peisajul urban al recatolicizării în Regatul Ungariei și în Transilvania. Puncte de vedere pentru interpretarea patrimoniului istoric al secolului al XVIII-lea din orașele Vác și Gherla
The Urban Landscape of Recatholization in the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania. Perspectives for Interpreting the Historical Heritage of the 18th Century in the Cities of Vác and Gherla

Summary/Abstract: Baroque urban landscapes were particularly important in the nineteenth-century history of Hungarian monument preservation. This heritage includes the so-called episcopal towns, which were centres of recatholicization. One such town is Vác. Here, the monumental Catholic church square contrasts with the small market town. The bishop wanted to be the leader not only of Vác, but of the entire region. Consequently, the architectural scale corresponds not to the town itself, but to the surrounding landscape. I compared this townscape with that of Gherla, the most important new Armenian town and Catholic centre in eighteenth-century Transylvania. However, the idea of an Armenian bishopric was unsuccessful, meaning the town lacks the grandeur characteristic of Hungarian episcopal towns. Only the church stands out in terms of scale, but it is surrounded by a typical merchant town. The influence of the recatholicization of the Armenians in Transylvania hardly extended beyond their own community. By the nineteenth century, the Armenian Catholic town had gradually become part of a multi-denominational townscape.

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