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Abstract This study discusses the origin, and liturgical function, of a popular accessory of the Christmas celebrations, that is, the Bethlehem nativity scene. The events of the life of Jesus attracted much attention in the early period of Christianity, as a result of which the Holy Land was visited by flocks of pilgrims. Descriptions of the sentiments aroused by a pilgrimage to Bethlehem may be found in sources as early as the letters of Saint Jerome. Fragments of the Bethlehem manger were kept in the Santa Maria Maggiore Cathedral in Rome, so it is here that one of the first nativity scenes, a sculptural group by Arnolfo di Cambio, can be found (late 13th century). The work of Arnolfo was commissioned by the same Pope Nicholas IV who also sponsored the ornamentation of the Cathedral of San Rufino. One screen of the Giotto Assisi fresco cycle depicts Saint Francis’ Miracle of Greccio, in which the Holy Mass is celebrated over the manger and the Child comes to life. The Bethlehem nativity scene was the subject of numerous paintings and sculptures during the Renaissance and the Baroque era. From the sacrificial procession of the faithful in the liturgy evolved the genre of sacral drama, from which in turn mystery plays were developed, leaving the premises of the church. Nativity scenes incorporating elements of mystery plays, such as the presence of the shepherds, were intended primarily to make the miracle of embodiment a palpable reality for the believers. The presence of the Holy Family, the three Magi and the shepherds made the nativity scene realistic, always with a touch of the day and age. A tabernacle cabinet carried by angels was erected in 1589 over the Chapel of the Nativity in the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica; commissioned, again, by a Franciscan Pope, Sixtus V. Caravaggio’s Adoration of the Shepherds altar paintings (the Museo Nazionale, Messina, and the San Lorenzo church, Palermo), represented a novel interpretation of the subject. In sculpture, Antonio Begarelli’s terracotta groups (1526-1527, Modena Cathedral), which resemble paintings, preceded baroque art. The nativity scene, as a genre in sculpture, started to flourish again in Hungary in the 17th century, a symbolic representative of which was the medieval Adoration of the Shepherds sculptural group found by Jesuits in the Town Hall of Lőcse (today Levoča, in Slovakia), a work executed by the master Pál Lőcsei (today in the Basilica of Saint James, Levoča). Three Magi altars are to be found in the churches of Saint Michael in both Sopron and Kolozsvár (today Cluj-Napoca, in Romania), which presumably must have had their medieval antecedents. While the Adoration of the Three Magi sculptural group is a work of an immigrant Bavarian sculptor, Georg Schweitzer, in Sopron, it was Franz Anton Maulbertsch who painted a Three Magi altar screen in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). Maulbertsch also developed the theme of the Three Magi and the Adoration of the Shepherds in two separate fresco scenes in the parish church of Sümeg, deliberately associating with the great tradition leading to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, via the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome. Key words: Bethlehem, manger, nativity scene, Wise Men from the East 10.56044/UA.2021.1.4.eng FULL TEXT PFD

10.56044/UA.2023.2.4.eng Full text in PDF Abstract: The rise of the cult of famous people in the period of Renaissance was fostered by ancient examples, the biographies of Plutarch and Suetonius. The respect paid to contemporary poets, writers and humanists is considered as a Renaissance achievement, and the erection of ornate tombs as a typical expression of that. In Florence, the Basilica of Santa Croce has for centuries served as the burial place of great thinkers, from Leonardo Bruni to Vittorio Alfieri, and that is where Goethe, Foscolo and Stendhal paid their respect to them. In Hungary, István Széchenyi came up with the idea of the Üdvlelde (a Salvation Park), a memorial park that would contain the graves of scholars who had served the nation’s progress. It was up to the artists to realise the idea: István Ferenczy, who studied in Rome, created the busts of several Hungarian writers and poets, including Csokonai, as part of an imaginary national pantheon. When it commissioned a full-length statue of Csokonai from Miklós Izsó, the Debrecen Memorial Garden Committee imagined a park “where statues of great people of our homeland and science, especially of those who have made great contributions to our city, should stand […]”. The elite of the city of Debrecen thus updated an old tradition with its roots in humanism, a heritage that was still alive in the 19th century through the spirit of the Reformed College. Keyword: statue of Csokonai, memorial park, pantheon, István Ferenczy, Miklós Izsó