Lébény ( or ) is a town in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, midway between Mosonmagyaróvár and Győr,

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It has a Romanesque monastic church commenced in 1208. Similar family or clan-financed medieval Hungarian monastic churches can be found in Ják, Ócsa,

Nyírbátor Nyírbátor () is a town in Szabolcs–Szatmár–Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. The town contains 15th and 16th century ecclesiastic and secular architectural heritage. Geography It covers an area of and ...

, Harina and Mălâncrav.

Early history

The Lébény area has been occupied continuously since prehistoric times. Signs of human occupation have been found from the Neolithic, through the Bronze and Iron Ages, including excavated remains of Celtic habitation. When

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

, later the Roman Emperor, overran

Transdanubia Transdanubia ( ; , or ', ) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary. Administrative divisions Traditional interpretation The borders of Transdanubia are the Danube River (north and ...

in AD 9, he established a military camp and civilian settlement in the area of present-day Lébény. In later centuries the region was inhabited by

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

, then by

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

, and then by Avars, who were converted to Christianity. Excavations have confirmed there was already a sizeable community at Lébény at the time of the

Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also known as the Hungarian conquest or the Hungarian land-taking (), was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarians in Central Europe in the late 9th and early 10t ...

in the 9th and 10th centuries, including Slavic groups. The first written mention of the place was under the name Libin in 1208.The section summarizes the Hungarian Wikipedia article on Lébény. Retrieved 2 December 2017.

Romanesque church

Now the parish church of St James the Apostle, this Romanesque church was originally built for a community of

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monks. Its nave with two aisles and three apses forms a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

structure. The capitals of the columns inside the church are carved with plant ornamentation.

Further detail

*Photograph of the church with an extended historical caption
Retrieved 31 August 2017.
*Gerő László (1984): ''Magyar műemléki ABC'' (ABC of Hungarian Historical Monuments). In Hungarian *Gervers-Molnár Vera (1972): A középkori Magyarország rotundái (Rotundas of Medieval Hungary). In Hungarian *Henszlmann Imre (1876): ''Magyarország ó-keresztyén, román és átmeneti stylü mű-emlékeinek rövid ismertetése'' (Short Survey of Hungary's Early Christian, Romanesque, and Transitional Style Historic Monuments). In Hungarian

References

External links

* in Hungarian and German Populated places in Győr-Moson-Sopron County Romanesque architecture in Hungary {{Gyor-geo-stub