A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 19. (1980)

VALTER Ilona: A tornaszentandrási r.k. templom kutatása

A TORNASZENTANDRÁSI R. K. TEMPLOM KUTATÁSA 129 RESEARCH OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN TORNASZENT ANDRÁS (Abstract) The Tornaszentandrás Church stands on a hill on the right side of the Bódva in NorthBorsod. It is a small church directed toward east consisting of one nave and two identical semicircular shrines from the same period. The double shrine from the Roman Period is unique in Hungary. Beside the architectural interest attached to the building the bad technical state made renovation necessary. The archaelogical excavations and the research of the walls were made in 1971. The history of the building of the church is revealed from the comparison of the archaeological investigations, the historical sources and the data of the Canonica Visitation from the 18th519th cc. The earliest part of the church is from the Roman Period

: the two identical semicircular shrines with an arched break resting on pillars to provide transition. The nave of the Roman Period was square formed. The shrines were covered with halfdome vault, while the nave seems to have been covered with a simple domical vault, similar, probably, to the dome of the Castellana (Apulia, South-Italy) church. The ground level was lowered with half a metre in the Gothic period thus the base of the altar (or altars) could not be found in the twin apses. The small niches in the apses served for the storage of vessels needed for the ceremony. The southern semicircular niche was a sitting niche, while the one on the northern side was made for cibarium. Only scattered Slavic population could be met on the upper flow of the Bódva at the end of the 12th c. The villages of the modern sense and the churches appeared only after the organisation of the bailiff system of Torna (1198). According to the archaeological excavations the graves of the early church are from a layer dated by sherds from the 13th14th cc. The frescos of the Roman church were made at the very beginning of the 13th c. These unilateral data show that the Roman church with the double shrine, consecrated to St. Andrew the Apostle was built at the very beginning of the 13th c. Churches with double shrine and one nave are to be found on the territory of the Carolingian Empire (Solhoffen, after 700, Reichenau-Mittelzell, an Abbey built about 816, Mendrisio 8th

—9th cc, parish church, Mesocco 10th

—11th cc. parish church etc.). This type is surviving on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire (Austria-Tirol, Salzburg, Meran) partly as parish church (Schönna at Meran), partly as castle chapel (Zenoburg, Aufenstein). In the Gothic period large miners' churches of two or more naves and two shrines are built on the same territory (Schwaz, Rattenberg, Hallstatt 15th—16th cc). Endre II. married Gertrúd the daughter of the Istria marquis, the Meran earl, Andechsi Berthold between 1200 and 1203. Gertrúd presented large estates to her conpatriots and relatives accompanying her to our country. Her tutor, Adolf, the later Szepes Provost got an estate in Szepesség, belonging to the bailiff in Torna in 1209. The connection between the Szepesség and the village of Szentandrás both belonging to the bailiff of Torna is natural. This could cause the appearance of the double shrine church form in Hungary, being the usual form in Meran-Tirol. The enlargement of the church can be dated, with the help of the archaeological excavations, the historical sources and the murals from the Anjou Period from the middle of the 14th c At that time the village belonged to the Bebek family. They added the present