Architect: KELEMEN Bálint
Conservation of the medieval church ruin has been carried out within the framework of the ROM Vándor (Ruin Rover) program launched by Market Építő Zrt. The aim of the project was the renovation of the ruin, the worthy presentation of its aesthetic and historic values with the help of some small-scale contemporary additions.
Based on the characteristics of the carved stone fragments found on site, the church of the sometime Csákány village was probably built at the turn of the 12th-13th century. The exact time of its devastation is not known, but the village had already been depopulated by 1449. Archeological excavations of the ruin and its surroundings took place in 2003-2006. The southern half of the ruin was identified, but no traces of the onetime cemetery wall and the village itself had been found. In the cemetery around the church, 144 tombs have been excavated.
The church ruin is located in the middle of a land under agricultural cultivation, on high ground. Before renovation, about 20-80 cm high walls were visible of the small single nave village church with an apse of horseshoe arch plan. The walls have been built of limestone, with dressed harder sandstone blocks forming the corners. There is a stone dump and a fire pit used by tourists at a little distance to the north. At the beginning of the project, the walls were weathered and damaged, with many stones, that had fallen out of the walls, laying around within and outside the church. Conservation of the church ruin has been carried out within the framework of the ROM Vándor (Ruin Rover) program of Market Építő Zrt. The starting phase of design for the intervention included the topographic survey of the ruin, the scientific documentation of building history and a listing of architectural valuables. A 3D model of the theoretical reconstruction has also been created by KÖZTI as part of the scientific documentation; visualization has been partially helped by the use of an AI image generator tool.
The basic purpose of the renovation (and also that of the ROM Vándor program) was the technical conservation of the ruin, the preservation of its aesthetic and historic values and its natural harmony with the surrounding landscape; including some small-scale contemporary additions which could become valuable assets. The most important task was the conservation of the ruin, the unbuilding and rebuilding of the loose wall sections and the replacement of the missing patches, based on the photos of the excavations in 2005. Besides this, the height of the walls have been raised only in those places, where it helped the interpretability of the sight. Many of the dressed corner stones, stored at the Tatabánya Museum, have been built back in their original (or most probably original) places. Contemporary additions include the corten steel structure that marks the place of the church door and functions as an information board as well, the crushed limestone cover of the church floor resulting in an orderly image, and the new fire pit built into corten steel rings. The altar is located in its original place but it has a contemporary look, made of a single large block of limestone. There are two limestone block benches for the comfort of the tourists, one in the church for those who want to pray or contemplate, and another one by the fire pit. When the project was finished, the memory of our ancestors who had once lived there was recalled: 144 (electric) candles were placed on the excavated tombs and the church ruin was illuminated in the evening.
The Csákányospuszta church ruin is the only medieval ruin of Tatabánya, which was under archeological protection formerly, but it has been declared a protected historic monument since then, based on the design documents by KÖZTI. The ruin is located on a privately owned plot, but the owner has offered to transfer the property of the ruin and its surroundings to the town and the proceedings are in progress.
Location: Csákányospuszta, Tatabánya outlying area Built: 2024 Architect: KELEMEN Bálint Associate architect: BÁRÁNY BARÓT Bálint Building history: ARNÓTH Ádám, KELEMEN Bálint, PATAK Gergely Client, general contractor: Market Építő Zrt – ROM Vándor program manager: BELECZ Péter, project manager: KRENN Tamás, construction manager: SZABADOSI Tamás, technical assistant: JUNG Ágnes 3D spatial scanning, topographic survey: SZAPPANYOS Tibor (Kvalitron Kft.) Historic monument consultant: ARNÓTH Ádám Area: church 52 m², surroundings (expected) 2.200 m2
