Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 14-15 (1969-70) (Pécs, 1974)

Helytörténet - Kováts, Valéria: Török hódoltsági épület Szigetváron

180 KOVÁTS VALÉRIA Turkish Building in Szigetvár V. KOVÁTS In a little, South-Transdanubian town in Hungary, in the downtown of Szigetvár, the crumbling little building, wedged in narrow, long parcels, village living houses, differs unambigous from the Hungarian town- and country houses. By the description of monuments it is declared as a relic of the Turkish occupation. On the small split-level house under the Bástya (Bastion) street No. 3. there are the characteristics of the Turkish architecture of the XVI

—XVII. centuries to be observe. The walls of the building of rectangle foundation with a basic area of scarcely 80 m

2 were made by the alternation of small-sized, plain, well baked bricks and thick mortar layers. On two sides of the lower level it is a small-sized ogee arch window, on one of the side wall of the story there are two rectangle windows with jamb stone and grill to be found. The window on the other side wall of the story is without jamb stone and grill. We enter the lower level consisting of one single, undivided room, through the entrance door of the north frontage. The entrance of the story is installed above the door of the lower level. One may to get up to this by the brick stairs, built some decades ago, set in parallel with the frontal wallface. The ground-floor room is unplastered. The similarly undivided single room of the story is thickly plastered. The two levels are detached by jointed flooring resting upon beams. The place on the story has a trough vault termination. The flattened gable roof is covered with tin plate. To the southern wall-face of the building it was built lately a little village house and at the roofing of this is the upper section of the buttress of the small Turkish building to be seen. It remained no contemporary description, drawing or other documents on this gloomy, little building devoiding of all ornamental elements, its age howerer is indisputable, although its former function is rather problematic. So many descriptions, so many conceptions can be read about its usage: circumcisorium. Koran school (medresse), library etc. By the local popular tradition it is regarded as a Turkish cellar, Turkish prison. Its first authentic delineation dates 1689. from the time of the reoccupation of Szigetvár. Leandro Anguissola, an Italian military engineer, imperial technical officer taking part in the reoccupying military operations, recorded the little house in the Turkish suburb in his scale generale plan of the blockade of Szigetvár, without giving an explanation to its function. On the occasion of the approaching 400. anniversary of the heroic battle of Szigetvár in 1566, in the course of renovation of the monuments in the town, it took place the monumental and archeological research of the little Turkish building in the Bástya street, its restoration ended in 1966. During the research works unfolded the contemporary form of the building. It was proved by us that the floor of the lower room was at the similar height with the outer pathway level, thus the lower level might have been originally not a cellar but the ground-floor. In the course of the filling up of the outer ground level during centuries, the lower level of the little building became more and more similar to a cellar owing to the accretion of surroundings. Around the house we found the mark of a pavement covered with bricks at the contemporary pathway level. In the course of the wall investigation we have not found already the trace of the former plasterwork supposed by us, in the lower place, everywhere came the characteristic brick wall of the era of Turkish occupation to light. The edifice was built up on a basement wall made of sandstone with an extraordinary small height. We had to finish our investigation because of the welled up underground water at the lower level of the basement. It may be only supposed therefore that it was built on the customary foundation of wood piles, as it was proved by every building in Szigetvár out of the age of the Turkish occupation. By the wall investigation the mark of the jamb stone of front door became visible at the present day entrance. On three side walls of the groundfloor room we opened up on each, in assimetric placing one window of outwardly ogee arch, inwardly angular form. At one of the window we are able to point out the exact structure of the wooden bars out of the era of Turkish occupation on the basis of the relative unhurt preserved wooden relics. The ceiling balks of the room might have been hold by wooden pillars, the trace of which we could not examine, they