Theme:
6. Embedded in European archaeology: the Carpathian Basin
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Medieval Urban Parish-Churches: An Archaeological Perspective
Content:
Parish-churches are representative monuments of medieval urban life, significant not only for the local community, but also on regional level. Some of them keep their medieval structure and form, while others were transformed or destroyed. Preserved entirely or partially, the parish churches and the surrounding churchyard cemeteries, are witness and exceptional source of social and economic aspects, material culture and first of all spiritual life of medieval urban society. The building of the church, with stages from Romanesque through Gothic and early modern times, its decorative fittings, equipment and furniture are the result of outstanding and long lasting efforts of the urban communities, comprising local and long-distance experiences. Moreover, churchyard cemeteries provide first-hand source on the local community, especially through the anthropological data and the rich series of grave-goods.
The regional and long-distance contacts of urban communities, through trade and other economic and social relations, are well documented in written sources and these contacts create a solid background for establishing direct links between the town’s parish churches, their architectural and artistic features and the connected material culture.
This session aims to create a complex perspective on the archaeologically research of major parish churches of the Carpathian Basin, widening the analysis to the connected buildings and cemeteries. Papers focusing on case studies are welcomed, but authors are encouraged to consider the material culture connected to the church and the surrounding cemetery, the detectable elements of cult, and especially the regional and long-distance connections as a possible element of network formation. Several papers will present the Transylvanian parish churches of Brașov (Brassó/Kronstadt), Sibiu (Szeben/Hermannstadt), ClujNapoca(Kolozsvár/Klausenburg), Baia Mare (Nagybánya/Neustadt) – all of them placed on the main north-south trade route which connected medieval Hungarian Kingdom with Poland and the Levant. Similar cases from Carpathian Basin and beyond are welcome.
Keywords:
urban parish-churches, Medieval Ages, church archaeology, medieval urban parish cemeteries, urban churches network
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Daniela Veronica Istrate (Romania) 1
Co-organisers:
Peter SZŐCS (Romania) 2
Marianne Dumitrache (Germany) 3
Affiliations:
1. Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archaeology, Bucharest
2. County Museum Satu Mare
3. Landesamt für Denkmalpflege im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart (Esslingen, RFG)
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