Haris Andrea szerk.: Koldulórendi építészet a középkori Magyarországon Tanulmányok (Művészettörténet - műemlékvédelem 7. Országos Műemlékvédelmi Hivatal,)

Lukács Zsuzsa: Előzetes beszámoló a Szeged-alsóvárosi ferences kolostor kutatásáról

Preliminary Report on the Survey of the Franciscan Monastery of Szeged-Alsóváros (Lower Town) Zsuzsa Lukács The settlement of the Observant branch of the Franciscan Order in Szeged is connected to the Franciscan Order's crisis and subsequent renewal in the 15th century. In 1444 the Pope's legate Giuliano Cesarini permitted the Observant Order residing in Bosnia to settle here, handing over to them the Monastery of Palánk, previously held by the Conventual branch of the Franciscans. As the Conventuals also chose the course of reforms in the meantime, the Observants were asked to settle in Alsóváros (Lower Town). The monastery in Alsóváros was first mentioned in a deed issued in 1459 by King Matthias, granting permission to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays, as well as to establish four butcher's stalls "... ante claustrum beate Marie virginis According to secondary works this suggests that at least part of the monastery had already been completed by the time of issuing the deed. The next information of architectural historical importance - the year 1503, when the St. Mary of the Snow Church was consecrated - was preserved by those two stone plaques which were placed secondarily on the north and the south wall of the church nave. Forty-four years passed between 1459 and 1503, which was far too long a period in the life of a Mendicant Order to be without a church. The first pictorial representation of Szeged, made in 1689, shows the Franciscan Monastery with the inscription "St. Peter" written next to it. This suggests that the old church was handed over to the Observants when the order came to settle in Alsóváros; they built their monastery close to this building and started to construct St. Mary of the Snow Church after their monastery had been completed. Szeged was captured by the Turks during the carnival season in 1543, and only the Franciscan monks of Alsóváros stayed in the town. Permissions issued by the Turkish authorities, which were preserved in the archives of the Franciscan Monastery, provide evidence for the construction work carried out during the period of Turkish rule. A typical example is provided by the letter written in 1645 by the Sultan Ibrahim I to the Turkish Governor of Szeged, in which the "sanjakbey" is ordered to "check whether the church in question was built before the Turkish conquest, whether it is currently in use, and whether the repair of the monks' cells is really necessary". Only if you are satisfied that these three conditions are met (and also, provided that the construction work will add neither to the height nor to the expanse of the existing building), then the renovation ... might be permitted The repair ot the church roof (1624) and the thatching of the monastery (1639, 1640) was permitted with similar stipulations. According to tradition, at three o'clock in the morning on April 24, 1686 the bells of the Alsóváros Church send the signal for the attack to the army trying to recapture the town from the Turks. The town was eventually recaptured on October 23. A view of the building, complete with the plan of the monastery, was made a quarter of a century later, showing the building from north-west. According to