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

On the western facade of the church, to the north and to the south of the central window, we have uncovered two Gothic windows. Walled up in 1713, with the tracery installed elsewhere in the church, these windows were never to be used again. The structure of the mediaeval doorway on the western facade of the church demolished above ground level at the time of building the Baroque entrance was slightly protruding from the vertical plane of the wall. Similarly to the south doorway it was recessed and built of bricks. As the wall was demolished at the time of installing the Baroque stone frame, we have no idea how the top structure of the older entrance looked. The windows on the southern facade of the church were larger in the Middle Ages; we discovered the sill of the Gothic windows, with the base of their mullion showing, one and a half metre below the level of today's window sills. The windows were divided into three lights with their tracery known only from drawings. Only one fragment of the tracery (found in the Baroque sculpture depository uncovered in 1992) and three fragments of the mullion turned up. The material of the stone work was supplied by the quarries along the right bank of the River Maros, in the area between Háró (Haräu) and Algyógy (Geoagiu); these were probably made by local cutters, and were transported to Szeged on the River Maros. (In the course of the construction an appropriate space was left open for each window; the stone carvings transported to Szeged were inserted into these openings later. As a result, the window sills were elevated half a metre above the originally intended level.) We have excavated the south doorway walled up in 1713; this recessed doorway was made of brick and slightly protruded from the wall. The top section, together with the keystone of the recessed pointed arch, was destroyed in the course oflater reconstructions. The entrance was emphasized by a large "empty" area that is unbroken by buttresses. (See the 19th century representations.) We noticed that at the intersection of the nave and the choir the walls were not in bond. First the nave was completed, and the choir was added later. The nave vault did not follow the original desing. It is evident in the roof that the walls were prepared for the webs of a planned vault. Changes to the original desing can also be discovered in the choir. The two bottom stories of the tower were built adjoining the north-eastern buttress of the choir. The whitewashed coat of plaster provides evidence that the church had already been in use prior to building the tower. With the exception of the base of the choir and the main cornice running along the entire building, the church was built exclusively from bricks; by contrast, the walls of the tower and the chapter-house contained considerable quantities of ashlar, as well a large number of Romanesque stone work (including fragments of ribs and of bases of pillars and columns, stone carvings from recessed doorways decorated with engaged columns, semi-circular window head with its outside surface having a semicircular plan. This suggests that the window-head belonged to an apse. These carvings serve to prove that the stones of a vaulted Romanesque church built of ashlar, which had aisles, an apse, a recessed doorway were used to build the Gothic church. Two carved stones were loosened during the repair work on the choir base in 1992; one of them featured, on its inner side, roll-moulding decoration, the other the details of a floriated capital. Therefore, Romanesque stones were re-carved for the Gothic choir base. Since the Romanesque stones were reused after the completion of the nave (the nave base was built using bricks), we think it quite probable that