Mentényi Klára szerk.: Műemlékvédelmi Szemle 2002/1. szám Az Országos Műemléki Felügyelőség tájékoztatója (Budapest, 2002)

MŰHELY - Bodó Balázs: A veszprémvölgyi apácakolostor építéstörténete és kőfaragványai

Klosters im Veszprémvölgy ist noch bei Weitem nicht abgeschlossen. Im Material des Lapidariums und an verschiedenen Orten der Stadt sekundär eingemauert können noch neue Steinmetzarbeiten gefunden werden. Balázs BODÓ THE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY AND CARVINGS OF THE VESZPRÉM VALLEY CONVENT Parallel with the archaeological excavation of the Veszprém Valley Monastery the survey of the stone carvings preserved in Dezső Laczkó Museum in Veszprém has been carried on since 2000. As a result of the research several of the Monastery's carvings could be identified. The earliest church excavated was single-naved with a short rectangular apse. On the basis of its rather thin walls the nave must not have been vaulted with the exception of the apse. By the northern side a small size chapel was built later. Under the apse of this chapel was a crypt that could be reached through the stairs along its northern wall, preserving a burial or relic. The chapel was painted about the mid 14

th century and then around 1370 it was pulled down. Although there are not enough data to tell the date of building of the church and chapel, supposedly they originated from the earliest 11

th century period. The first convent could be identified with the rectangular building along the western façade of the gothic church. No carvings are known from the earliest building period. The convent was taken over by the Cistercian order around 1240 and smaller improvements were made in 1256 and 1317. From among the carvings a few simple pieces of window and door frames can be connected to this period. In the second half of the 14

th century a major rebuilding of the convent was started. The thirty years of reconstruction began with the rebuilding of the church in the late 1360's. The new church with a polygonal apse was built to the northern wall of the former church after pulling down the chapel that stood there. At the corners and the sides of the apse compound pillars stood, while along the interior wall a string-course ran. The apse was divided from the nave by a belled profiled triumphal arch. The vaulting system of the nave is still unknown, the fluted ribs walled-up in the Jesuit church might have belonged to it however. Several stone fragments of the church's window-frames have remained to us. The place of the entrance is not known, but its fragments were found during the excavations. In 1386 the monastery was given 320 days indulgence for further construction work. In the possession of this a contract was made with master Konch in 1387 concerning the enlargement of the monastery. The construction was still in process in 1389. The parts of the building described in the 1387 contract should most probably be looked for in the part excavated southwest from the church. Among them only the ground wall unearthed at the western side of the earlier church can be identi-