Budapest Régiségei 37. (2003)

Bencze Zoltán: Előzetes jelentés a volt Állami Nyomda épületeinek területén folytatott régészeti kutatásokról 113-135

BENCZE ZOLTÁN shaped tower at 34 Országház Street the infilment was burned sometimes which dates back to the Turkish period. (Fig 13.) An earlier research of Buda Castle has proved that there were towers built to the first city wall regularly at about 55-65 metres from one another. These towers being either semi circular, or horse-shoe-shaped or quadrangular existed parallely in the same time. Howerver in the case of the three towers found at the northern end of Buda Castle the distance between them is somewhat less, than forty metres. There is another interesting thing can be observed in the lower yard of the wing at 33 Országház Street that originally there was a quadrangular tower. After a short period it was pulled apart and a semi circular tower was erected instead. A thicker and a thinner secondary wall was built to the outer side of the first city wall to the east of the semi circular tower unearthed at 33 Országház Street. (Fig. 8.) Traces of vaulting can be observed between the double wall and the eastern wall of the tower, to the north of the city wall. It is possible that there was an east-west directed cellar room between the Arpad Age and The Angevin city walls. THE ANGEVIN (II.) CITY WALL The second city wall being 2 metres wide as an average was found about 8 metres to the north from the city wall of the period of King Béla IV Between the western wall of the building of the Hungarian Power System Operator Company and the eastern wall of 2 Kapisztrán Square it was almost entirely complete.The Angevin wall made of broken stones built with calcareous mortar was constructed on the slopes of the hill, therefore the outer side of the base can be three metres lower than the inner one at some places. (Fig. 16-17.) Probably this was the reason for supporting buttresses from outside. At 33 Országház Street the traces of three buttresses could be discovered, being at 7 metres from each other. In the Turkish map of Marsigli a section of this butttressed wall is indicated to the west from Bécsi Gate. (Fig. 1.) The section of the city wall at the western side of the outer buttress that can be seen to the north of the semi circular Arpad Age tower at 33 Országház Street was not built vertically, but slanting to the north. (Fig. 16, 18.). The outer side of the city wall on both sides of the buttress further to the west was built vertically. (Fig. 17,19.). No buttresses were found in the sections of the second city wall under Országház Sreet and at 34 Országház Street but at the northern end of Országház Street the city wall preserved at the level of the parapet. (Fig. 6). Two 'socks' (foundation levels) can be observed in many places on the inner side of the Angevin city wall and at some places the formation of the wall suggests the former outer level. (Fig. 17). THE BEAM-FRAMED CITY WALL OF THE TURKISH PERIOD There is a third, a beam-framed city wall built in Turkish times running 34 metres up to the horseshoe-shaped tower excavated at 34 Országház Street on the inner side of the second, the Angevin city wall. The section of the Angevin city wall here was damaged in a siege to such an extent that instead of reconstructing it a new wall was erected on its inner side. It can be seen in the cross-section of the survey grid opened on the outer side of the second city wall at 34 Országház Street that the original facade of the wall was only preserved at the bottom 2 metres. (Fig. 20.) When making the foundation of the Turkish city wall, in the main bulk of the area - though not everywhere- both the inner and the outer facade of the wall was formed by a beam on which the stone wall was built in "T" shape. (Fig. 22.) Generally, the foundation of the beam-framed city wall did not reach the rock surface level. For example a section at the northern end of Országház Street was mainly built on a pit (Fig. 21), whereas it was seated on the outer foot-level of the Arpad-Age horse-shoe tower at 34 Országház Street. (Fig. 23-24.) The Turkish city wall was fixed to the Angevin wall by buttresses at about 4 metres from each other. (Fig. 22.) There was a large amount of red marble fragments built in the section at the northern end of Országház Street. 118