PODOBA BENEDIKTÍNSKEHO KLÁŠTORA SV. KOZMU A DAMIÁNA V LUDANICIACH NA ZÁKLADE ARCHEOLOGICKÉHO A GEOFYZIKÁLNEHO VÝSKUMU

The study presents main results of archaeological and geophysical investigations of the defunct Benedictine Monastery of St. Cosmas and Damian in Ludanice (Topoľčany district). The monastery was probably founded by the noble family of Ludanice by early 13th century. The monks abandoned the cloister at the latest in the 1st half of the 16th century. From 2005 to 2007 we conducted archaeological excavations at the site, which managed to locate the monastery and largely uncover its southern wing and partially the corner of the east wing. The south wing, which included a hypocaustum furnace was constructed in the 14th century and added to the older east wing. However, the acquired artefacts show the origins of the site in the horizon between the end of the 12th and 1st half of the 13th century. As shown by the excavations, the southern wing perished at the end of the middle Ages. In the years 2012 and 2013 we conducted a geophysical survey with the GPR method at the site. The survey has confirmed and completed the course of the southern wing and probably attested to the existence of the west wing of the monastery. The east wing, partially identified by the excavations, however, was not found. This may be explained by intentional dismantling of its architecture and the establishment of a modern period cemetery at the site. Geophysical survey seemingly identified also the abbey church, but the results in this case are not clear and will need to be verified by further field research. Based on the gathered data, it appears that the ground plan of the monastery had probably irregular trapezoidal shape with approximate dimensions of 25.5 (south wing) x 22.5 (west wing) x 21 (east wing) x 30? (church) meters.