The Late Medieval Collection, opened in 1955, contains archaeological finds from 1301–1711. It also includes the late medieval ceramic vessels, stove tiles, iron objects and mixed cemetery material from the museum's pre-1955 core collection. The importance of the collection is due to the assemblages discovered by the excavations of primarily István Méri, later Nándor Parádi, Júlia Kovalovszki, Béla Horváth and András Horváth Pálóczi. Previously planned archaeological excavations, did not neglect the investigation of cemeteries in addition to settlements. The artefacts of the Pomáz-Klissza-domb manor house, which provide an insight into the life of the upper middle classes, are worthy of special mention.
The quality of István Méri's excavation observations has set an example for archaeologists specialised in the Middle Ages. The collection includes the finds of the first late medieval village of the Hungarian Plain (Túrkeve-Móric) to be excavated using modern methods. István Méri also excavated at Kesztölc-Klastrompuszta, providing valuable data on the life of an important monastery of the Paulines, a monastic order founded in Hungary. The finds from Nándor Parádi's excavation of Sümeg-Sarvaly, carried out jointly with Imre Holl, show the life of a small village in the late medieval Transdanubian region. Larger assemblages come from the sites of Tiszaörvény (a medieval village), Feldebrő-Plébániatemplom, Lászlófalva-Szentkirály (a late medieval village). More recently, the collection has been significantly expanded with 17th-century finds from the Upper Fortress in Szendrő and 14th-17th-century finds from the Regéc Fortress.
Contact: Dr. Zsuzsa Pető, peto.zsuzsa@hnm.hu, phone: +36 30 799 0852
In October 1891, the Sighisoara Inspectorate of Education submitted a treasure trove to the Hungarian Ministry of Religious Affairs, which "was found by building contractors Károly Leonhardt and János Kovács demolishing the old Kessler building on the lot of the Sighisoara elementary school. The treasure was inside two small Korond pot one of which was broken by the workers (who laid their hand on the silver coins but one gold coin and 977 silver coins were recovered). The antiques were in the intact pot, and wrapped in paper and cloth, 5 gold coins." Eventually, 4 gold and 41 silver coins (Polish coins minted between 1520 and 1620) were selected for the National Museum, and some of the antiquities – three breast pins, a belt, belt buckles and a 17th century belt tip – were also sent to Budapest. The gilded silver breast pin on display is decorated with turquoises, glass stones and blue enamel. The pin bears the master's mark stamped twice: the letters HFG joined in a shield. This refers to the master Georgius Hirling from Sighisoara, who is mentioned in guild records between 1688 and 1728, many decades after the time of the coins. There is an interesting contrast between the master who lived later and the Gothic centre of the breast pin. Maybe the goldsmith placed thy typical Gothic group of figures into a 17th-century frame as a playful experiment: in the centre is the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus on her lap, next to her on the right is a smaller figure of a woman, also crowned, holding a child, and on the left another crowned female saint, perhaps holding a palm branch in her left hand.
The statue of Saint Christopher from the excavation of the monastery of Saint Cross in Pilis (now Kesztölc-Klastrompuszta). The 15th-century statue, made of pipe-clay, is unique in Hungary and was probably brought to the country from the Rhineland in Western Europe as a religious object. It was found in a layer of untouched rubble on the brick floor at the south side stall, next to the altar, during István Méri's excavationi.
We have many written sources of 15th century courtly luxury. The so-called "Budapest finds" are also a reminder of bourgeois wealth: alongside silver drinking glasses, rings and belt buckles, the most valuable and interesting pieces are the cast clasps. The paired pieces, typically Gothic in style, feature leafy vines, oak trees with acorns, lion heads and small figures. On the clasp shown here, a graceful, charming female figure and a young man in courtly dress evoke the light and graceful movement of the period. Turning towards us, the figures depict the courtship of lovers in the Minne scenes (knightly courtship) popular in the Gothic period, and the lovers' attachment to each other.
From the late Middle Ages onwards, pendants have been known to hang at the end of long chains or on rosaries for perfuming. Their name – pomme d'ambre, pomander, musk-apple – refers to one of the most expensive perfumes of the period, ambergris. Their shape from the 16th century onwards was usually a small, open-work, moulded sphere, which was also made of filigree in the 17th century. From the last third of the 16th century, sniffers wich could be opened clove by clove, and each compartment was filled with different perfumes, were also popular. Not only pleasant fragrances were spread this way but they could also contain substances with medicinal properties. They were worn on a chain, a chain belt or even a rosary.
In the early modern period, perfumed oils and balms were often placed in clothing and jewellery. Queen Catherine de Medici of France (1519-1589) wore perfumed oils in the hem of her dress and gloves, and Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) rubbed perfumed oils into her clothes and shoes. In Hungarian sources we find similar examples: aristocrats wore scented clothes and gloves. More common, however, were perfumed jewellery: mostly chains or rings, but also earrings and pendants.
The open-work eyes of the chain shown here contain small solid pellets, perhaps pressed from wood chips, which still have traces of some kind of embalming substance on the outsides.
Stained glass is a rarity, appearing alongside coloured glass. Most are ornamental or part of a figural field framing. Unfortunately, it is impossible to reconstruct the composition of a window painting based on Hungarian stained flat glass fragments or to accurately identify their age (in the absence of a specific archaeological context). Stained glass window fragments were discovered and published in Visegrád, Buda, and the monastery of Klastrompuszta, and more recently, small fragments have been found in the excavation of the parish church of Budakalász. The surfaces of our stained-glass window fragments have deteriorated, but in places where the deteriorated layer has peeled off, we can see the colours: red, yellow, blue, pale blue, colourless with a slight greenish tinge.
Research has identified the ruins at Klastrompuszta as the remains of the medieval Holy Cross Monastery, which was the center of the Hungarian-founded monastic order, the Paulines, until the early 14th century. This material currently constitutes the only major collection of finds related to monasteries in the collection. The stained glass windows of the monastery church, the metal fittings of the bookcovers, the bells, the candle snuffer, and the bronze tap are all material evidence and reminders of everyday life.
The bronze hairpin has a scratched/engraved pattern at the end, with the inscription SOPHIA slightly blurred underneath. The European fashion for wearing hairpins in the early modern period can be dated to the 16th to 18th centuries. These pieces, often very similar to those from Regéc in form and material (mostly cheap copper alloys), are found in masses with metal detecting, but more valuable (silver) and interesting materials (bones, horn) are also found in collections. Although they are best known as hairpins, they had other functions as well: decorative pendants or brooches could be laced into a hole at the end of the needle, or could be used to lace up decorative or functional ribbons of clothes – fasten sashes or tighten corsets. There are also pieces from Western Europe with a small spoon at the ornate tip, so these multifunctional pins even served as ear spoons (ear cleaning tools preceding today's disposable ear pins). It is not far-fetched to say that these decorative needles were the eponymous Swiss Army knives of early modern ladies, probably crafted in a similar technique in workshops of all sizes throughout Europe, but we can assume that they were imported from the wider Rhine Valley or from workshops in the south of Germany.
From among the Virgin Mary votive pictures of Kismarton the medal shows a statue of the Blessed Virgin standing on the Calvary, holding the infant Jesus in her left arm, her right hand raised in blessing, while in her left hand she holds a small bird, perhaps a goldfinch. The wooden statue, originally in Nagyhöflány, was made by Michael Felser in 1690, but soon afterwards it was almost burnt down by the Kuruc soldiers. After his miraculous rescue, Prince Pál Esterházy had it moved to the magnificent Calvary he had built, where pilgrims from the surrounding villages came on several days of the year even in the 18th century. The circular inscription on the medal says S. Maria V. Eisenstat. The other side of the medal is heavily damaged, perhaps depicting the Franciscan church of Kismarton or the Cathedral of Saint Martin.
