Anciennes recherches, nouvelles considérations sur la crypte repérée dans le périmètre de la rue Karl Marx à Constanța

Abstract

At the beginning of the 1980s, during the urban systematisation in the perimeter of the former K. Marx street (present-day Revoluției din 22 Decembrie 1989 street), the remains of a Christian cult building were found. The brutal anthropic intervention, using mechanical devices, led to the quasi-total destruction of the southern and western walls of the structure and of its brick-made pavement, as well as to the partial deterioration of the crypt for relics, which was located under the sanctuary. Even so, it was still possible to reconstitute the plan and the constructive details of the crypt quite accurately. Based on the available data (presented in Rădulescu, Lungu 1989, combined with the pictures kept in the archive of MINA Constanța), the authors aim to reopen the archaeological file of this find, in order to discuss again the archaeological context and the reliquary glass flask found intact in the small eastern apse of the crypt. Some details regarding the constructive technique used for the crypt, the mural decoration, and also the glass ampulla which was found practically sealed in the eastern apsidiole will also be analysed. This object, unique in the religious context of the city of Tomis, offers supplementary information regarding the veneration of relics, their accessibility as well as the context of their deposition in Scythia, allowing new ways of interpreting these sacred remains housed in the Christian monuments of the religious capital of the province

Keywords

• christian cult edifice
• crypt
• reliquary glass flask
• tomis