Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 32/2. (2012)
Articles
The Medieval Church of Välenii de Mure}, Mure} County 197 representing God is rather rare in the former Hungarian kingdom and it represents the godly origin of Christ. In most of the cases we have the representation of the Holy Spirit in adoration of the Magi scenes. The representation of Mary betrays a late Romanesque Italian influence while the clothes of the angel on the right of Christ shows a late Byzantine influence reminding the features of the Palailogos renaissance. Based on the analogies the fresco was dated to the first third of the 14th century and it is another fine example of the Transylvanian italic-byzantine frescoes (Jékely-Kiss 2008, 74-75). The quality of the medieval painting is excellent and the rare iconography is also very significant. First discussed in 2004 (Lángi-Mihály 2004, 31), the painting belonging to the italic-byzantine style was dated to the first three decades of the 14th century based on the analogies from Ghelinfa, Unirea and Sántimbru (Jékely-Kiss 2008, 74). According to Szabó (2009, 217) the closest analogies of the paintings are located in Italy. The archaeological excavations at the former parish church of Disznajó - today Calvinist church - aimed to identify the ground plan and orientation of the medieval church, the altar and the vestry. The research focused on the exterior of the church and in the area of the nearby medieval manor house. The first trench (SI) was opened in 2005; it was 10 m long and 2.5 m wide. The trench was located outside of the actual church, next to the eastern wall - triumphal arch - where the medieval altar was located. The second trench (S2) traced in 2007 was 4 x 4 m and it was located half meter east of trench 1, near the eastern wall of the church (PI. 3/1). In trench SI (PI. 3/2-5) the foundation of the medieval altar was identified at 6 m distance from the eastern wall of the present church - former triumphal arch - at the depth of 0.2 m from the present day walking layer. The wall of the former altar is 1 m wide and it has a rather semicircular shape (PI. 2/1). This however could be turned into a polygonal structure as well. Inside the altar of the medieval church the layers were more complex, while outside only three layers were identified. The upper layer was a 30 cm thick brown layer with mortar and pieces of bricks identified all along the trench. Bellow this layer there were different fillings from the 19th century. The complexity of the layers is visible on the drawings of the southern and northern profile (Pi. 3/4-5) but they are without any significant context and meaning as they are the result of the demolition of the altar and of the later filling of the area. Bellow 1.6 m there was found the ruins of a vaulted crypt made of brick from the 18th century. The crypt had an entrance from outside on the southern side of the altar. When the altar was demolished the vault of the crypt was damaged and it was partially filled with soil (PI. 2/1). The size of the crypt could be measured since this expanded in the whole width of the altar and bellow the ruined vault we could measure its length as well. The width of the crypt was 4 m, the length was 4.5 m (east-south), the depth could not be measured as the removal of the fillings would endanger the ruins of the structure. Inside the altar on several spots the 18lh century baroque walking layer could be identified, which was generally 0.4 m bellow the present ground level. Above this there was a 40 cm thick brown layer with mortar, clay and stones in the northern and southern profile. No in situ floor remains were found, only one medieval triangle shaped floor tile made of brick was discovered. It was very wide spread the usage of brick floors in medieval churches and several analogies are known in the area: the Franciscan church from Tärgu Mures, the parish churches from Sänväsii, Gäläteni, Petelea and Adämus. On the southern profile the layers are less disturbed as on the
