Excavations at the Cathedral Hill in Chełm, East Poland, revealed remains of a building that was constructed with carefully chiselled blocks of stone and Romanesque bricks. The structure was found during last years excavations but was fully unearthed this season.

During the excavations archaeologists discovered numerous fragments of decorative elements, melted stained glass and details of stone porticoes. The archaeologists suspect it might have been a previously unknown Romanesque temple, but what is peculiar in this case is the size, measuring 5 by 5 metres and lack of a normally present apse. But what points at the sacred function of the building are the remains of melted stained glass and devotion articles. Among decorative elements were bases of columns located in the portal and possibly in the outer vertexes of the structure.

The building is believed to have been burned to the ground, possibly in the 1256 fire that is witnessed in historical documents. A layer of burned matter was found under one of the walls, and some of the stones contain signs of fire. The building might have been build before that date, together with the adjacent monumental church complex.

(after Nauka w Polsce & Andrzej Buko)