----------------------------Original message----------------------------
To Tomislav Doslic,
        On the 27 Mar, 1996, a message appeared on MAPS-L asking help in
locating a small Hungarian village, Vertesszentkereszt with ruins of a
cistercite (Cistercian?) abbey.  I haven't seen any replies to your request
on this list and since hunting down these places is a form of recreation for
me I don't like to give up too soon.  Like many other, I'm sure, I struck a
dead end trying to find the whole name in gazetteers.  But when I broke it
down, and began with Vertes, I found a concentration of names with that root
in one region.  I then began to look at maps.
        At 47deg. 25sec N, 36deg. 15sec. E Ferro, in the midst of landscaped
garden is what appears to be an abbey or monastery.  A large u-shaped
building is shown in plan view with a triangle, with a dot in the centre,
surmounted by a cross placed on the north side of the building.  The name on
the park grounds is Vmu Kst. (with accents I can't reproduce here)  Towns
east & west of it are Vertesdoboz and Vertesboglar, while Vertesacsa is 4.5
km to the south.  The nearest village is Alcsut, 1 km. east across a
canalized river.  Szent (Saint) Kereszt's name is found in five place names
in the U.S. Board of Geographic Names Gazetteer of Hungary but none are
close to the Vertes region.  It does occur on several features about 10 km
to the east of the "abbey" I found.
        I used map sheets 5061/1 and 5061/2, dated 1928 and 1930
respectively of the 1:25,000 topographic series for Hungary.
        I haven't had time yet to check histories of the Cistercian (and
that may not be the right order, just a guess on my part since the name was
so similar) order but they seem to have been more active in northwestern Europe.
I did check a multi-volume church history atlas but found no answer there.
 
Ronald Whistance-Smith
14520 84 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB
Canada  T5R 3X2                   email: [log in to unmask]