The “Glass Church” in the Pilis Mountains. The Long and Complex History of an Árpád Period Village Church

Art historical and archaeological research in Hungary has long been dealing with medieval village churches, although these relatively simple buildings cannot be compared to the large cathedrals and monastic churches. Village churches generally fulfilled the same function for several centuries, even if they were rebuilt from time to time. This was the place where the local community pursued its religious activities, and the inhabitants of the settlement and the parish were buried in the churchyard. Three years ago we began the intensive archaeological investigation of a church such as this as well as the surrounding buildings at a site called Pomáz-Nagykovácsi-puszta located in the Pilis Mountains. In this case, however, the archeological investigations and the written sources provided a rather unusual profile. By the Late Middle Ages the church was not used by the people of the nearby village any more, but the Cistercian monastery of Pilis located a bit further away established an estate around it. What is even more interesting, the building seems to have ceased to function as a church by the end of the Middle Ages. Thus, the ongoing research contributes to our understanding of the kind of buildings comprising Central European monastic estates and of how these were used. As the analysis is still in process, this brief summary presents only some preliminary results. In addition to the changes in the function of the building we touch upon some questions related to the structure and building materials of the church, the related burials, and the architectural complex erected around it.