A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 45. (2006)

Pusztai Tamás: A gönci pálos kolostor 2005. évi régészeti kutatása

2004 A telkibányai Szent Katalin ispotály. In: Tanulmányok Kubinyi András 70. születésnapja tiszteletére. Szerk.: Kovács Gyöngyi, Budapest ARCHAEOLOGICALINVESTIGATIONS IN THE PAULINE MONASTERY AT GÖNC In 2004 and 2005, archaeologists from the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc conducted a one-month long excavation on the one-time site of the Pauline monastery dedicated to Our Lady near Gönc. Investigated during the excavations were the tower on the northern side of the sanctuary, the southern wing of the monastery adjoining the church, and the nave and the sanctuary of the church. A report on the investigation of the tower has been published in the museum 's yearbook for 2005. The earliest written source on the monastery dates from 1371, when King Louis the Great gave permission to the monks to build a mill above Gönc. It would appear that a community of monks had settled on the site of the later monastery by the close of the 14th century. Documents from 1429 and 1464 contain information on the history of the monastery's construction. Both dates are important for establishing the monastic complex's history: in 1429, Bishop Miklós consecrated the monastery's sanctuary, the main altar, and the altar dedicated to Mary, and he gave permission for the monastery to hold a fair. In 1464, János, Bishop of Moldova blessed the church dedicated to Mary and its seven altars and gave permission to hold a forty days' long fair. The construction history of the extant buildings and the ones still lying buried in the ground can be reconstructed as follows from the findings of the archaeological investigations. The buildings consecrated in 1429 were the sanctuary and the tower on the sanctuary 's northern side built in the same period. It seems likely that the monastery had alsó been built by this time, at least judging from the wall remains found under the northern wall of the nave in 2005. Before the archaeological investigations, it was unclear where exactly the seven altars mentioned in 1464 had been placed in the church. The archaeological excavations brought to light the foundations of all seven altars. Four of these lay beside the four pillars of the nave, two lay by the western side of the arch, while the foundation of the main altar lay in the axis of the sanctuary. The altars beside the nave's pillars were not erected at somé later date, but at the same time as the church was built. This is proven by the observation that unlike the upper part of the pillars, which were constructed from carved stones, their lower, 2 m long section covered by the altars was made of rough, unhewn stones. The date of the consecration of the altars in 1464 thus alsó coincides with the construction of the nave. Little is known about the buildings of the Pauline monks, who had presumably settled here in the 13th century. The few pottery finds dating from the turn of the 13th-14th centuries from the church and the monastery suggest that a community of hermits had probably settled here around 1300; however, nothing is known about them. The "origin" of the Pauline monastery perhaps resembled that of the Pauline monastery at Szentlélek near Miskolc: a perambulation charter from 1271 mentions hermits living on the site of the later monastery. Tamás Pusztai 157