Serbian Orthodox Museum

The Serbian Church Museum in Hungary is located on the main square of the town of Szentendre.

History

The museum's history, the work of collecting objects, is intertwined with the Serbian church history in Hungary.

The basis of the collection is the episcopal treasury of Szentendre, which over time was expanded with new values, gradually becoming the most significant domestic Orthodox collection. It is closely linked to the materials of the diocesan library and archive.

Most of the artworks are from the 18th century. The iconography is significant, partly following the post‑Byzantine school, but many are newer images created by autodidact artists. Among the more learned artists are Ostoja Mrkojevic, Mitrofán Zográf and Nedelko Podovic.

The collection also includes other liturgical and worship objects. The applied‑art works already bear Baroque features. These were often ordered from Hungarian, Austrian and other European masters, but local Serbian goldsmiths also produced masterpieces.

From the 18th century onward, the iconostases increasingly acquire a Baroque character (the icon wall of the Preobrazhenska Church). Artists who took a leading role include Jovan Popović, Stefan Tenecki and the New Land Vasa Ostojić.

The last flourishing period of Orthodox culture in Hungary is the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Among the painters of that time Pavel Đurković stands out, as does the Buda‑based Mihailo Živković, who also painted the iconostasis of the Blagoveshtenska Church in Szentendre.

After this, the Serbian population and culture also began to decline. “Within the borders drawn by the Treaty of Trianon, only one Orthodox episcopal see remained in Hungary: Budapest, and Szentendre. The multi‑million domestic Orthodoxy shrank to a few tens of thousands. The Romanian parishes stranded in post‑Trianon Hungary belonged to the bishoprics of Nagyvárad and Arad. Already in the 1920s negotiations were held that all Orthodox parishes in Hungary should live under the jurisdiction of the Serbian bishop of Budapest, but this remained only a plan.”

In the building that was already functioning as a museum at the end of the 1960s, the material remnants of domestic Serbian Orthodox church art can be seen, from reliquaries and icons to ecclesiastical vestments. In addition, beautiful codex‑bibles, shepherd’s staffs and furniture can also be admired.

Among other things, here is the portrait of Patriarch III. Arsenije Čarnojević in the chief priest’s ornatus.

The collection provides a rich overview of the art of the Serbian diocese, its development and the external influences it received—primarily Western influences, the mixing of Byzantine and Baroque‑Classicist elements.