ROM Vándor arrives in Tolna - Market rehabilitates another medieval church ruin

Renovates the medieval church ruins located on the outskirts of Regöly in Tolna County, which was formerly part of Somogy County and later part of rel="noopener">ROM Vándor programme, the medieval church ruins located on the outskirts of Regöly in Tolna County, which stood in the former village of Somogy, later known as Somoly.

We regularly report on the ROM Vándor social responsibility programme, launched by Market, which aims to preserve special, almost unknown Árpád-era church and monastery ruins, including through their exploration, professional restoration and the renewal of the monuments' environment.

The programme has now received several professional awards: in 2024, it won the Hungarian National Committee's ICOMOS award for „Exemplary Monument Preservation” and the Media Architecture Award for „Built Environment”. In 2025, it won the main prize in the „Value Preservation and Transfer Activities” category of DoingGood CSR Award, as well as the restoration of the Varjaskéri church ruins won another ICOMOS award.

Main task is wall reinforcement, conservation and landscaping

In a statement, the construction company said.

The brick and bonding material of the monument is basically in good condition, with significant natural erosion observed in the corbels, the interior of the tower and the plinth. The works will require appropriate patching of the cracks in the tower and the medieval masonry, as well as the additional masonry added in 1963, and restoration and conservation of the original plasterwork. Due to the nature and location of the ruin, it is difficult to access and the immediate surroundings are therefore neglected; the restoration will include the restoration of this area.

They pointed out that the interventions aim at the professional protection of the monument, the static reinforcement of the centuries-old brickwork, the restoration and conservation of the building, the creation of lightning protection, all with an architectural interpretation worthy of the sacred space. The project will be completed in August this year and will be open to the public at the end of the summer.

The church left without a village

According to their description, the village of Somogy is mentioned in archival sources from 1389. It may have been depopulated at the beginning of the Ottoman period, and became inhabited again from 1580. Its final destruction and depopulation may have occurred during the Fifteen Years' War. In 1622 the settlement is mentioned as a wasteland under the name of Somoly. In 1721 the church was already a ruin, the sanctuary was almost completely destroyed, and from 1824 only the church tower remained standing.

In 1963, the National Inspectorate for Monuments and Sites conserved the ruin on the basis of the plans of the architect Klára H. Nándori, and the fillings were supplemented with bricks. A comprehensive archaeological survey was carried out in 1999.

This suggests that the church was built during a period in the 14th-15th centuries in the Gothic style. It had a west tower, a single nave, a sanctuary with three sides of the octagon and a north building with buttresses at the corners. Next to the building was a cemetery.