A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 2. (Békéscsaba, 1973)

T. Juhász Irén: A vésztői Csolt-monostor faragott követi

Carved stones of the Csolt monastery at Vésztő IRÉN T. JUHÁSZ The Csolt monastery, which is at present being explored, stood long ago on the Mágor hill to the west of Vésztő. This article discusses the most important of its carvings. The group of church buildings were constructed in several periods. The first was a small church with one nave and a chancel ending in a semicircular arch ; this was probably there in the 11th century. A church was later built in its place with three naves and a basilican arrangement. Its main nave ended in a semicircular arch, and its side-aisles with straight walls. The monastery was built to the south of the church, and according to the data to the present it was connected to the church in a U form. The three-nave church and the monastery may have been built in the 12th century. The buildings were richly decorated with various carvings, the following fragments being the most important of these. Fragment with foliated scroll-motive (Fig. 1) from the debris at the entrance to room "A" of the monastery, and palmetted door-frame fragment (Fig. 2) and smooth engagedcolumn corniced door-frame fragments (Fig. 3) from this same debris. The significance of the small leaf-motive fragment found in the apse of the church is provided by the toolmarks visible on its surface (Fig. 4). The cornice fragment found in one of the houses in the village is the most important of the carvings discovered so far. Its delineation is individual, and its craftsmanship is of an artistic level. This stone was one of the left-side cornice sections of the west door of the church (Figs. 5—6). The representation of a bearded "turbanned man" of eastern appearance on the stone has no equivalent in Hungary from the 12th century. In a south-west part of the monastery a white marble capital was found. Three of its sides are decorated: one dog is on each of two sides, while on the third there is a triple leaf-motive. The fourth side is plain. Because of the representation of the dog, the capital is very important and is without parallel at present among the Romanesque carvings in Hungary (Figs. 7—10). Also of importance are the stone crowns, and the palmetted door-frame fragments found during the excavations in 1972 (Figs. 11—12). 125