Cercetări arheologice la Biserica Mare din cetatea Aiudului. I: Interiorul bisericii
Archaeological investigations at Biserica Mare of the Aiud Fortress. I: The interior of the church

Summary/Abstract: At the start of the 21th century, the fortress in the city of Aiud housed two churches, one larger, of Calvinist Rite, with a 15th century Gothic aspect, the other one smaller, of Lutheran Rite, rebuilt in the 19th century over the demolished structure of an older one, which was likely dating back to the 14th century. The large church had also suffered modifications over its long history, mostly in Baroque style, but its origins and actual age were unknown. Archaeological excavations at the large church of the Aiud Fortress first started in 2008, and were then resumed in 2018, in the context of a restoration project. Continuing to this day, the investigations brought to light a plethora of new data about the historical development of the site, foremost amongst them being the discovery of the ruins of an earlier church underneath the 15th century one. Inside the present day choir, robber trenches and remnants of foundation masonry retraced the outline of a sanctuary which ended eastwards in a polygonal apse, propped on the corners by buttresses. Further west, in the first bay of the present day southern side aisle, were brought to light the ruins of the interlocking between the old nave and its sanctuary. Nevertheless, this older church, already showing a Gothic layout, had not been the first Christian cult building of Aiud, as rather conclusively proved by the fact that its apse overlapped a grave. However, at this time, it cannot be concluded if this burial should be connected with the original small church, or with an even older structure on the site of the large one. Regarding the present day large church, the excavations evinced a multistage evolution, with the sanctuary being built at first as an expansion of the older cult building. The construction of the sanctuary actually involved two distinct phases, the second one being effectively a rebuilding from foundation up, on an only slightly different trajectory. The erection of the new naves, and the demolition of the older one, came only at a later time. After this, there were a series of small scale interventions, and then the 18th century brought major transformations. The church was burned down at the start of the century, and remnants of historical pavement still covered in soot and ashes could still be found during the excavations, underneath elements of fallen vaults. After functioning for a long while in improvised circumstances, the interior of the church was refurbished in the Baroque style at the end of the century, only the sanctuary retaining its historical Gothic looks. As part of the renewal, the inner ground level was raised with almost 1 m of rubble and various backfills, and, during the current renovation, the top layer of this re levelling has produced about 400 coins, spread over the 19th and 20th century, with only a few pieces from the second part of the 18th one. The newest major makeover of the interior took place in 2019, when, stirred by the archaeological results, the renovation team lowered the ground level of the sanctuary back to its original pre 18th century one. Besides the data regarding the evolution of the built structures of the church, the archaeological excavations also brought to light a number of burials, both predating the present day cult built and performed inside it, a myriad of fragmented architectonical elements, and archaeological materials, mostly of ceramic nature, spread over a time frame ranging from Roman times to the early modern and contemporary periods. Due to the huge amount of data, this paper presents only a brief look on the results of the archaeological excavations undertaken inside the church. The results of the investigations carried out outside the church will be presented at a later date.

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