ArcheoBudaPest 2020/41

Keywords: Middle Ages, settlement, town, cellar, Modern Period

Between February 6 and March 16, and again between June 29 and July 9, 2020, the Budapest History Museum conducted a preventive archaeological excavation at 6 Szentháromság Square, in the so-called Fortuna Courtyard, located in District I. The excavation covered the area of the demolished wing formerly containing the archives, a single-story building on the northeast side, the Fortuna Terrace, and the southern Ceremonial Courtyard, where two cellars were uncovered during preparations for crane base construction. This excavation, totalling 717 m², supplemented a larger-scale excavation carried out in 2018, which had already revealed remains of medieval Buda.

Due to construction work in the early 20th century for the Ministry of Finance, medieval layers and walking surfaces had been almost entirely destroyed. Therefore, only wall remnants and rock-cut features—appearing at an average elevation of 166.8 a.B.S.l. (above Baltic Sea level)—were preserved.
In the Fortuna Courtyard, under the former archival building, two cellar remains were discovered amidst significant modern disturbance. The smaller cellar, further to the south, was rock-cut and partially lined with mixed stone and brick walls. It had been completely filled with concrete, preventing any dating. The larger, east–west oriented cellar to the north had rock walls on its north and south sides, a mixed stone and brick wall to the east, and its west end was disturbed by the Ministry of Finance’s Országház Street wing. (Fig. 1) Beneath the substantial modern fill, collapse layers containing 15th–17th century ceramics, charred wooden beams, and large amounts of brick rubble were uncovered. (Fig. 2)

On the west side of the Fortuna Terrace, during the preparatory work for demolition, additional wall fragments and corners related to medieval and early modern cellars previously identified in 2018 were disturbed. (Tóth 2022) Some were even destroyed. The walls were cleaned, documented, and surveyed, but due to excavation of the fill, their dating could not be determined. (Fig. 3)

In the Ceremonial Courtyard’s northeast corner, Cellar 1 was a square-shaped, tapering room with walls made of rubble stone and brick, likely used for storage or possibly as an ice house in the modern period. (Fig. 4) There were no signs indicating a medieval origin. Its fill consisted entirely of modern debris, including World War II rubble and 20th-century ceramics. South of this, Cellar 2, oriented northwest–southeast, was of medieval origin with rubble masonry, and its brick vault was added in the modern period. Only parts of it were excavated—its damaged northern end wall, eastern wall, and a portion of the vault were visible. The cellar continues both southward and westward but was not fully uncovered due to the need for more extensive excavation, which was hindered by risk of collapse and the proximity of a vulnerable district heating pipe on the west side that had disturbed the structure.

During the excavation, 60 new archaeological features were uncovered, adding to the 86 already found in 2018.

Contributors: Anikó Tóth (lead archaeologist), Zsolt Kevevári (surveyor), Zsolt Viemann (surveyor)

Anikó Tóth