20 November 2026 - International Study Day on the Mosan Metalwork Fragments from Pétermonostora

The Royal Museums of Art and History are hosting, for six months, an exhibition featuring two large Mosan enamel plaques discovered during excavations at Pétermonostora (Hungary), a monastery destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1241. Presented to the public in the Treasure room, alongside emblematic Mosan works, these enamelled fragments regain their full historical and artistic significance.

Complementing the exhibition, a study day bringing together international scholars and specialists will be devoted to this extraordinary discovery. The event will provide an opportunity to clarify the place of these enamels within Mosan metalwork, to present a range of previously unpublished findings, and to share a wealth of material data collected during laboratory examinations. This monographic approach to the Pétermonostora enamels will also enable scholars to reassess the question of the artistic, religious, and cultural relationships linking the Mosan region and Central Europe during the medieval period.

The study day will not only focus on the site of Pétermonostora, but will also place particular emphasis on the Sint-Truiden Abbey (Saint-Trond), as industrial CT scans carried out by Aumovio Hungary Ltd revealed inscriptions beneath the enamel layer indicating that this remarkable work of art was designed and created at this major abbey.
 

International Study Day on the Mosan Metalwork Fragments from Pétermonostora

Royal Museums of Art and History

Brussels 10 Parc du Cinquantenaire

20 November 2026

9:00 - Welcome / Coffee

9:30 - 9:45 - Welcome address by Director Géraldine David and presentation of the study day’s programme by Sophie Balace, curator of the metal collection

9:45 - 10:30 - Sophie Balace (Art & History Museum, Brussels): Les fragments orfévrés de Pétermonostora et l’art mosan. Mise en perspective

10:30 - 11:15 - Bernát Rácz (Central European University, Vienna) and Szabolcs Rosta (Katona József Museum of Kecskemét): New Research on the Mosan Fragments from Pétermonostora

Coffee break: 15 minutes

11:30 - 12:15 - Zita Szikszai, Zsófia Kertész (ATOMKI, Laboratory for Heritage Science, Debrecen) and Bernát Rácz: Technical Examination and Archaeometric Analysis of the Mosan Artefacts from Pétermonostora

Conclusion of the morning and discussion: 15 minutes

Lunch & free discussion

Moderated by Benoît Van den Bossche (Université de Liège)

13:30 - 14:15 - Nicholas Paul Tayler (University of Debrecen): Networked Relations Between the Meuse Valley and Hungary in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

14:15 - 15:00 - Abbot Wiric of St. Trudo’s Abbey and Pétermonostora:

                    Kevin Schmidt (Université de Liège): Une place au Paradis ? Wiric de Stapel et la querelle du Sacerdoce et de l’Empire
                    Willem Driesen (Trudonium – Historical and archeological society, Sint-Truiden): Wie was Wiric?

15:00 - 15:45 - Aleuna Macarenko (Pächt-Archiv – Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Universität Wien): 
                      Romanesque Manuscripts from Sint-Truiden and a View of the Pétermonostora Side Cover from the Perspective of Twelfth-Century Book Decoration

Discussion. Free visit of the exhibition.

Last exit: 17:00