Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 30-31 (1985-1986) (Pécs, 1987)

Régészet - Hajnóczi, J. Gyula: The conceptual and actual reconstruction of the villa and the burial vault at Kővágószőlős

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE VILLA AND BURIAL VAULT 231 towards the main front, thus affording an extensive overlook. László Áspán, the leader of the renovations started in 1982, has drawn a red concrete didactic line covered with plastic film on the surviving walls. This line stood the test of the ensuing winters, and had survived undamaged till the completion of the protective walling. The draining of the area, by means of a number of weepholes and drain shafts, is also linked with his activities. The erection in the N part of the supplementary walls and the preservation of the burial vault will hopefully be followed soon by the completion of the protetive structures in the remaining parts of the villa. When completed, the bottom covering of the rooms — yellow gravel, white crushed limestone, red slag — will indicate the original existence or absence of a roof, and also the general spatial features of the rooms. Sepulchral chapel The sepulchral chapel was situated on the gentle slope before the main front of the villa, approximately in line with the E turret of the portico. Its orientation was NS, similarly to that of the villa. The fact that it was orientated in relation to the main building, i.e. that it was not built so as face E, may be accounted for by the architectural context and the slightly shelving terrain, and not by certain liturgical considerations. However, the orientation of the sarcophaguses in the vault was EW. In terms of structure, the elongated threefoilshaped ground-plan of the chapel may have derived from the cella trichora. The only parallel of this structure is known to have been provided by the St. Symphorosa Chapel in the City of Rome. That chapel was built with an elongated oblong-shaped central space, while in our chapel the space between the two S conchae was séparated from the longitudinal space behind it. On an average, two-thirds of the lower level of the sunken walls have survived, with the base of the barrel vault covering the longitudinal oblong-shaped space still perceptible. Only this space had served as a burial site, since the large N concha was walled up and filled in in conformity with the original plans, while in the twin exedras the method applied was different. Although the builders could have chosen the former method, they did not do so, but rather determined on an apparently provisional course. As opposed to the method applied in the N concha, the buliders had left apertures in the middle of the inner groundwalls of the twin exedras, suggesting that their plans also called for the subsequent utilization of the lower level of these two conchae. They had instead extended, apparently unintentionally, the wing wall of the entrance till the wall of the burial vault, thus isolating the semicircular sidespaces, which were also filled in subsequently. However, on the evidence of the uninterrupted frescos covering the walls it may be presumed that all these, seemingly incidental, structures formed part of the original plane, and that the builders may have abandoned an earlier conception. If this were the case, it would have required not only a few stairsteps and a shelving floor, but also the building of a steep external staircase with short treads to give access to the entrance-hall, and from there to the side-wings. That the building had two stories is sufficiently evidenced by the thickness of the walls (a technical proof), and the type of the building (a functional proof). The presumed upper level — housing the cultic rooms — may easily be constructed on the groundwalls, except for an apparently causeless „inconsistency" (Fig. 2.). While the ends of the S arches of the two side exedras were set flush with the front wall of the building, the ends of the N arches slightly "overlapped" the aisle walls of the longitudinal oblong-shaped space, and thus the line of the back wall of the entrance-hall did not coincide with the meeting of the arches. In other words, the depth of the entrance-hall was smaller than the diameter of the side-exedras. This difference is conspicuous since the inner straight limit of the large outer exedra coincided with the extension of the outer buttresses. This connection was "organic", similarly to that of the junctions observed on the main front. In other words, this means that one single block formed the groin of the building, with the domes of the conchas departing from this block, and that there was no "transeptal" cubus or adequate roofing built in the front part. The drawing of the conseptual reconstruction of the sepulchral chapel proved to be usefulnot only in forming a notion of the original dimensions of the building, but also in providing an opportunity to build a protecting superstructure indicative of the original arrangement and dimensions instead of a separate protecting building as earlier planned. The designing of this up-to-date superstructure, comprising structural details which as a matter of course did not survive, was practically the "preliminary study" to this plan. (Figs. 3-4.). The floor level of the upper storey we could determine on the evidence of the barrel-vault covering the burial vault. The height of the inner spaces was indicated by the reconstructed level of the quarter-cupola of the N outer concha. An open double-pitched roof may have covered both the main space and the entrance-hall. Similarly to the comparable mausoleums in Pécs, the most problematic part of this building was the main front. The only palatable reconstruction of this part was set forth by Gyula Gosztonyi (Fig. 5.J. Access to the space "below" the cultic room and consequently to the upper second storey, may have been given only by the small aedicula-like entrance erected in front of the main front — this is indicated by the wing walls streching out to the area in front of the building. The shelving ground was presumably determinant here, as it was at the other mausoleums, where the builders depended heavily on the features of the terrain. The two buttresses on the main front presumably had an architectonic form, while the building and the burial vault may have had tympa* nie cornices (Fig. 6.J.