Bíró Szilvia - Székely Zoltán: Arrabona - Múzeumi Közlemények 49/1. Tanulmányok T. Szőnyi Eszter emlékére (Győr, 2011)
Joan Cabello: Vaja középkori temploma
_ ARRABONA 2011.49/1 TANULMÁNYOK THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH OF VAJA The place-name Vaja originates from a Slavic proper name. The village inhabited by lower gentry was first mentioned by a deed form 1280. One of its proprietors: Pósa’s son Ábrahám was the founder of the Ábrahám lineage of the Vaj family. In 1324 Ábrahám’s son: János and Mihály shared their inherited property: Laskod and Vaja, while in 1342 and 1349 János’ and Mihály’s sons shared their property in Vaja. The agreement of 1349 mentioned the church having been consecrated for the honour of St. Stephen that must have been built at the end of the 13th century. The original rectangular nave of plane ceiling, supporting pillars and steep gable roof with a trapezoid sanctuary divided by a choir in the western and a triumphal arch in the eastern side has been preserved to day. The northern side of the sanctuary was enlarged by a sacristy. The facades might have been closed by bricks laid in herringbone fashion. Based on the sporadic traces the inner sidewalls seem to have been covered by frescoes. At the end of the 15th century, but not later than at the beginning of the 16th century the sanctuary and the sacristy were pulled down and a new, polygonal sanctuary that was possibly covered by a net vault was built with a barrel vaulted sacristy. The walls of the existing nave were heightened, its slit windows were bricked up and the two today’s windows, which originally had stone frames, were opened. Stone frames of renaissance sectioning were placed to the doors of the sacristy and the former sanctuary. The monstrance niche of the northern wall was constructed by profiled stone carvings. The next reconstruction occurred at the end of the firs decade of the 17th century. Then the neglected church was renovated, while the barrel vault of the sanctuary and the sacristy were pulled down. The pillars of the nave were re-bricked, the corona of the walls was repaired and the building was covered by a wooden ceiling of the same height. The northern stone of the renaissance frame of the western door was also replaced at this time (by a stone element taken from the sacristy door). After this, the mass and ground-plan of the church did not change - except for the construction of the western tower at the end of the 18th century. Juan Cabello 92
