Szőcs, Péter Levente (szerk.): Satu Mare. Studii şi comunicări. Seria arheologie 23-24/1. (2006-2007)
Terdik Szilveszter: Károlyi Sándor építkezései az erdődi várban
TERDIK S fi Ives fler The Castle ofArdud. The reconstruction mrk of Sándor Károlyi (Abstract) The tóm ofArdud (h. Erdőd) is situated near the medieval border of the County of Satu Mare. It was the center of a deanery and seat of a county in the thirteenth century. In the next century, together with the neighboring town of Hell tug (h. Héltek), Ardud was in the possession of the Drăgăşeşti (Drágffy) family. The two settlements were the main residences of the owner family: they obtained the right to build a castle at Ardud in 1456. The construction work was started later, being finished, however, at the end of the fifteenth century. In this period the members of the family became very influent, holding important military and administrative functions. The function of the castle, therefore, was more of social display, than military. The Ottoman wars and the extinction of the Drăgăşeşties put an end to the castle, being ruined after the siege of 1565. After an intermeyyo of one century the domain and the former castle was acquired by the emerging Károlyi family. Through the eighteenth century the Károly ies became the most influent clan of the region, and, the most significant member of it, Sándor Károlyi, established a new residence here in the 1720s. Due to the wars and the reconstruction work, the medieval building can be known through the letters, instructions, inventories and architectural sketches made during the rebuilding. This type of written and pictorial material is rich, because Sándor Károlyi was often in the capital, and sent instructions and asked reports on the building process. In addition to the reconstruction of this process, it is revealed the excavation of a medieval building. During the building of the new castle the medieval walls were reused in the greatest extent. The new building reflects, therefore, the ground-plan of the medieval building. The damaged parts were ruined, but not only the foundations, but also the vaults of the cellars and large parts of the elevation were kept. The recovered material: stones and bricks were reused, and even the discovered cannon balls were melted and used for construction material. The new castle, built in baroque style, was more or less finished at the middle of the 1730s. It bad an irregular rectangular plan, with four round towers at the comers and three wings. The castle was fortified with ditch and palisade with a flying bridge. In the surroundings a mill and other annexes were built and a game-park was created. The baroque castle needed restoration already in 1783. New plans for the faţade were made at this point, but they were never built, because the importance of the residence was lower than before: the family moved to the capital. The decay continued during the next century. One of the towers was restored and dedicated to the memory of the poet Petőfi, but even this one, together with the rest of the building is a ruin today. The analisys of the written sources, made in this paper is intended to be a starting point of the archaeological research of the castle. 1. kép. 276
