Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 30/1. (2010)
Articles
172 Z. Győrfi-Sz. S. Gál The medieval church lies on the first terrace rising from the Tárnává Micä valley, in the southwest part of Adamu§, on the right side of the road coming from Tärnäveni. The eastward oriented hall-church has a polygonal choir. Its western facade tower has four levels and is covered by a shingled steeple. Diagonal buttresses can be seen on the corners of the church’s western wall. Besides the buttresses sustaining the triumphal arch, the church’s northern facade is also dissected by a perpendicular and a diagonal support. The latter one’s pair might have disappeared from the southern wall at the beginning of the 20th century during the construction works of the porch. The closing corners of the sanctuary, as well as the lengthwise walls were strengthened with buttresses. The nave’s and the sanctuary’s southern facade are both structured by 3, respectively 2 similar arched windows. One can enter the church either through the segmental western door located under the tower or through the southern lanced doorway. The nave’s southern entrances as well as the windows were created during the 20th century’s reconstruction works.10 11 Above the triumphal arch’s key stone a gothic capitalized inscription reads ANO§DOI (ANNO DOMINI) and the year 1518. Besides this inscription recent art history research11 has discovered two more medieval details. In the sanctuary, underneath the thick plaster and brick layer a late Gothic sacristy door with shouldered arch was discovered, while on the western wall, under the canopy a red decorative frieze came to light.12 Two more details need to be attentively analyzed. One is the unconventional position of the diagonal buttress supporting the northern nave wall which presumably indicates an earlier construction phase. The other one is the buttress propped against the sanctuary’s northern wall, shifted eastwards which indicates the demolished sacristy’s location. Description of the excavations Drainage and isolation works carried out around the church made it possible for a minor archaeological rescue excavation to take place.13 Due to lackof communication and other objective circumstances only the northern side of the church could be included in the project. In determining the trenches we tried to choose those points that could answer questions raised during previous research projects. In accordance with these requirements we opened 3 trenches. Trench 1 (PL 2; 4) The first trench was marked at the meeting point between the sanctuary and the nave, on the northern side of the church, partly in order to identify the demolished walls of the sacristy, and partly to clear up the circumstances of the foundation done in the sanctuary and the nave. The 4 x 3.50 m trench was deepened to an average of 1-1.20 m from the current surface (▼ 1.60-1.80 m). 10 Kovács 2003, 8, 16. 11 We would like to thank to art historian Zsolt Kovács and to restaurator Lóránd Kiss for the useful indications and meaningful discussions. 12 Kiss-Pál 2003, 3. 13 We would like to express our gratitude to Keve László, Zoltán Soós, Róbert Szálteleki and Emese Sántha for helping us in our research.
