1670, and the later seventeenth century Muráň falls, and the paintings go under limeMuráň padá a maľby miznú pod vápnom

In 1670 imperial troops occupied Muráň after the Wesselényi conspiracy, a plot of Hungarian magnates against the Habsburgs led in part by Ferenc Wesselényi, who had been the castle's own captain. With the castle went the domain, and with the domain came the Counter-Reformation: the rotunda was taken back for the Catholic church. The seventeenth century was hard on this corner of Gemer in every other way as well — fighting and raiding emptied villages badly enough that settlers had to be brought in afterwards. At some point in these centuries the medieval paintings were covered over with lime; nobody wrote down when or why, and it may have been religious politics or simply a wish for a clean white wall.V roku 1670 obsadilo Muráň cisárske vojsko po Vešeléniho sprisahaní — sprisahaní uhorských magnátov proti Habsburgovcom, na čele ktorého stál okrem iných František Vešeléni, niekdajší kapitán tohto hradu. S hradom prešlo panstvo a s panstvom prišla protireformácia: rotundu vzali späť katolíckej cirkvi. Sedemnáste storočie bolo k tomuto kútu Gemera tvrdé aj vo všetkom ostatnom — boje a plienenie vyľudnili dediny natoľko, že sem potom bolo treba priviesť nových osadníkov. Niekedy v týchto storočiach zakryli stredoveké maľby vápnom; nikto nezapísal kedy ani prečo, a mohla za tým byť náboženská politika práve tak ako obyčajná túžba po čistej bielej stene.