Abstract

Many dress adornments and costume accessories, and particularly the cast bronze belt fittings worn by the Avars of the Carpathian Basin, create the impression that they had been produced and/or designed and decorated in late antique workshops. Was there a cultural milieu in the eighth–ninth centuries that continued to transmit the spirit and taste of Late Antiquity, or are these articles merely reflections and products of late antique reminiscences? Can we speak of direct cultural, artistic and workshop connections with the Mediterranean existing up to the ninth century, as is often the case today, or did there evolve an independent decorative arts industry in the late Avar period, which was no longer under the direct cultural influence of the Mediterranean, but was merely inspired by it – one that created its own unmistakable style with late antique reminiscences and supplied the entire Avar Khaganate with its products.