The Frumușeni Mosaics are a set of millennium-old

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s discovered in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

at "Fântâna Turcului" (Turk's Well), close to the locality of Frumușeni, on the left bank of the river Mureș, near the city of Arad. The area of the discovery corresponds with the former Bizere Monastery of the 11th-16th centuries (see Details).

Discovery

The archaeological excavations from the Frumușeni site, Fântânele, Arad County, were done by the research team composed of dr. Adrian Andrei Rusu (Institute of Archaeology and Art History in Cluj-Napoca), drd. George Pascu Hurezan (Arad County Museum Complex), dr. Peter Hugel (Arad County Museum Complex) and drd. Ileana Burnichioiu ( "1 Decembrie 1918" University in

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...

). The mosaic was discovered in August 2003. Further excavations also identified a complex of monumental buildings (a 23m x 8m two-level palace/port, two churches, a tower with a well, palisades, ditches and other construction components—portal, frieze, colons, mouldings, capitals, window enclosures, arches—local and imported ceramics, sculpted pieces, coins, book binders, adornments, fragments of apparel pieces, bronze vessels, knives, crossbow bolts, spurs, glass panes, plates, dishes and pots, candles. The area was the witness of the discovery of a well, shedding light on the reason for its name. Also discovered was a cemetery, consisting of three hundred graves. Authorities plan to raise a museum pavilion over the site. This project is also supported by the Austrian Institute of Archeology, as well as the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

. The land on which the discovery was made, was ceded to the new museum by the local authorities.

Details

The mosaics were discovered inside the ruins of a former

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

monastery, the Bizere Monastery, which functioned between the 12th and 16th century. During this period the area belonged to the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. The mosaic is believed to have constituted the floor of the church. The speculations concerning the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

origin of the mosaics cannot be fully proved, since the style and the possible dating of the finds can also have very strong

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

connections. The archaeological evidence in itself insufficient to decide whether the monastery was of

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

or eastern rite. Even the possible

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

origin of the mosaics does not support convincingly the Orthodox identification of the place, because in one hand of the very strong relationship between the

(see Béla III's Byzantine connections), and on the other hand the ground plan and the architectural appearance of the building-complex rather represents a classical western liturgical space. The surface is constituted by several polychrome mosaics, grouped into three 4.5m by 1.3m panels, beautifully crafted, depicting real or fantastic animal, floral, solar and geometric representations. The

bestiary A bestiary (from ''bestiarum vocabulum'') is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history ...

, containing a wolf-headed centaur, a half dog-half boar, a winged he-goat, a bear, a rabbit, a predator bird catching a fish, seems to illustrate the

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

battle between good and evil. The mosaics also contain several crosses with equal arms, framed by squares, and superposed by a flower, suggesting the path to salvation. The discovery of the Orthodox church only confirms an older hypothesis of Romanian historiography, which suggests that Catholic orders ( Cistercians, Benedictines), had taken over from the Orthodox Christians a series of monasteries, one of which is the Bistra Monastery (toponym transformed into Bizere). The Catholic monastery ended its existence in 1551, after an Ottoman invasion.

References

Archaeological Excavation Report
b
CIMEC

External links

* Images of the archeological sit

("11th century Byzantine mosaic discovery in the course of archeological investigations at the former Bizere monastery (11th-16th century)"); {{DEFAULTSORT:Frumuseni Mosaics History of Christianity in Romania Churches in Romania Christian monasteries in Romania Buildings and structures in Arad County Archaeological sites in Romania Mosaics Byzantine mosaics Tourist attractions in Arad County

Discovery

Details

See also

Further reading

References

External links