Revista Analele Banatului S.N. Arheologie-Istorie

Péter Solt

Andrea Szurominé Korecz

Ferenc Síkhegyi

Róbert Lóki

Gábor Majoros

Archaeogeological observations of the Cistercian monastery and royal cemetery of Egres

1 Ianuarie 2022

Abstract

The Cistercian monastery of Egres (Igriș, Romania), founded by Béla III, in the Mureș valley, was a place of outstanding importance in Hungarian history. The remains of the three-nave basilica and monastery, identified in 2013, have been uncovered below the surface since 2016 thanks to excavations carried out in cooperation between Hungarian and Romanian archaeologists. Using the malacological material, we have reconstructed the natural environment in the bend of the Mureș. By examining the stone material of the masonry and small architecture, we determined the original natural deposits of the rocks by means of petrological, micropaleontological and geochemical analyses. The masonry is composed of 90% Late Cretaceous Milovian sandstone (Bose Sandstone Formation), the rest of the rocks being Middle and Late Miocene limestone, Middle Miocene andesite, Middle Pleistocene limestone and Late Pleistocene travertino. The rocks in the Mureș valley were transported by barges on the Mureș to Egres. The decorative stones of the small architecture (altars, gateways, tombs) are the Middle Jurassic limestone ('red marble') of the Middle Jurassic age (Tölgyháti Limestone Formation) from the Gerecse Mountains in Tardos and the white, pale grey marble quarried in the Precambrian metamorphic zone of the Southern Carpathians around Bucova and Zeicani. The mass grave from the mongol invasion period yielded, in addition to the uniquely beautiful red marble statue fragments, extremely rare fragments of an ornately cut Fatimid rock crystal chalice. The rock crystals were quarried in Madagascar from Precambrian pegmatite in the Sahtanay Valley and then transported by sea in long-distance trade across the Red Sea and in caravans to Cairo to the rock crystal cutting masters. From there it may have been brought to Egres, probably as a gift. It is also possible that this rare object may have been a royal gift, possibly in connection with the Fifth Crusade with Andrew II, and that it may have been brought to the monastery, which was richly endowed by the royal family, according to sources. The fine marble carvings, red marble statuary fragments of unparalleled beauty and pieces of the Fatimida chalice are important art historical artefacts from one of the most brilliant periods of the Hungarian Middle Ages.