Search for the burial place of Suleiman Sultan in the vicinity of Szigetvár, Hungary PHASE I

Transcription

1 Search for the burial place of Suleiman Sultan in the vicinity of Szigetvár, Hungary PHASE I REPORT Client: RIEC Foundation Represented by: Zoltán Nagy Prepared by: Ábel Hegedüs and Tamás Tóth Geomega Ltd. Budapest, May 2006

2 Content Content Introduction Maps and photos collected Results of the data integration Conclusions...13

3 1. Introduction Map of Leandro Anguissola from 1689 is the only known map which clearly markes the location of the burial place of Suleiman Sultan together with several important features in the vicinity of the Szigetvár castle. These features include the Szigetvár castle itself, nearby buildings, extent of the marsh area, roads of the time etc. No other known map from the area marks the burial place of Suleiman Sultan, however several objects marked on the Anguissola map are possible to identify on later generation maps. Aim of Phase I was to transfer the information about the location of the burial place from the Anguissola 1689 map to present day maps with the help of maps prepared since 1689, aerial photos and digital terrain model. Using this methodology the most probable location of the burial place could be identified.

4 2. Maps and photos collected List of the maps and photos collected and used for the study: Map of Szigetvár with the burial place of Suleiman Sultan, Leandro Anguissola, 1689 Kriegsarchiv, Wien, K_VII_k_ Vestung Szigetvár (Map of the Szigetvár castle), Author and date not known Kriegsarchiv, Wien, K_VII_k_278 Plan des Fortes Szigetvár und seiner nächsten Umgegend (Map of the Szigetvár castle and its close vicinity), February 1849 Kriegsarchiv, Wien, Nachlässe B 1295 Nachlass Nugend Karton E3 Első katonai felmérés (First Military Mapping), 8-27, M = 1 : , 1784 Első katonai felmérés (First Military Mapping), 9-28, M = 1 : , 1784 Második katonai felmérés (Second Military Mapping), XXVII-63, M = 1 : , Második katonai felmérés (Second Military Mapping), XXVII-64, M = 1 : , Harmadik katonai felmérés (Third Military Mapping), 5559/4, M = 1: , 1880 Katonai térkép (Military map), L33-72-D-c, M = 1 : , 1950 Katonai térkép (Military map), L33-72-D-c, M = 1 : , 1986 Polgári topográfiai térkép (Topographic map), L33-72-D-c-1 ( ), M = 1 : , 1977 Polgári topográfiai térkép (Topographic map), L33-72-D-c-2 ( ), M = 1 : , 1977 Aerial photo (black and white), 6617/44-C/534, 20 May Flight height: 4000m Aerial photo (colour) Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived from the 1: topographic map.

5 3. Steps of data integration 3.1 Digitizing Leandro Anguissola s Map As a first step main features of the Anguissola map were digitized. These include the Szigetvár castle outlines, buildings and campsites, roads and edges of waterways. Different category objects are marked by different colours in Figure 1 showing the digitized map. Figure 1: Important features of Anguissola s map digitized. Purple lines mark outline of the Szigetvár castle, buildings, camp sites and limit of the map. Green lines indicate alleys of trees, brown lines roads and blue lines edges of waterways or marshlands. The digitized lines and objects of the map (shown in Figure 2) were used for fitting with mapped lineaments and objects of later maps and aerial photos.

6 Figure 2: Digitized features of Anguissola s map. Red arrow in the top right of the map marks the pentagon indicating the burial place of Suleiman Sultan. 3.2 Matching the Szigetvár castle outlines to aerial photos There are few features of the Anguissola map, which can be matched with features existing today as well. One, and probably the most reliable is the castle of Szigetvár. The southern part of the castle has changed significantly, and today is part of the town, however the northern, main part of the castle still does exist and up to our best knowledge the eastern wall has not been rebuilt since The digitized features of the Anguissola map were matched with the aerial photo based on the mentioned eastern wall of the Szigetvár castle. Result of this match is shown in Figure 3. with the burial place of Suleiman Sultan positioned in the forest situated nearby the Almás stream (Almás patak). Weak point of this match is twofold. On one hand the length of the castle wall, the matched is based on is rather short compared to the distance between the castle and the burial place. On the other hand the exact details of the castle are not fully reliable. This later problem is well documented by matching the castle outlines of Anguissola s map to a later, more detailed one.

7 Figure 3.: Match of the digitized features of Anguissola map and an aerial photo. The match is based on the direction of the eastern wall of the Szigetvár castle.

8 This later, more detailed sketch of the Szigetvár castle is the Plan des Fortes Szigetvár und seiner nächsten Umgegend (Map of the Szigetvár castle and its close vicinity) from February This map has been drawn with engineering precision and can be regarded as an exact representation of the fortress in Match of the 1849 map and Anguissola s map detail is shown in Figure 4. The match is based on the bridge leading to the northern part of the castle, which most probably remained in place during time. Ambiguity of the fit is well visible in Figure 4. Figure 4: Match between the outline of the Szigetvár castle in Anguissola s map and a detailed map from The match is based on the bridge leading to the castle. 3.3 Matching other features of the Anguissola map Apart from the castle outlines several buildings and camp sites are marked on the map of Anguissola. These were however either of temporal use (camp sites indicated on the map) or

9 have been rebuilt afterwards as the settlement developed. Similarly some of the roads migrated together with the development of the settlement. This can be traced by comparing the first and second military maps with recent maps. There is one set of boundaries however on the Anguissola map, which can serve as the base for match with later maps. This is the edge of the marshland, the low laying area around the Almás stream. This natural boundary has most probably remained at the same, or very similar position during the centuries. Luckily, the edge of the marshland is clearly marked in the map of Anguissola, and even more the junction of the Almás-patak marshland and the valley joining from the west from the direction of Basal is visible on the top of the map as a junction of two valleys. All these were considered, when the Anguissola map was matched with the First and Second Military Map and recent topographic maps. Main results are as follows: Match of the First and Second Military Map support several observations (in Figure 5 the Second Military Map is shown as an image, while main features from the First Military Map are indicated by their coloured lineaments or outlines). Szigetvár and the castle of Szigetvár could be matched with good accuracy. Main difference is clearly due to the development of the easter part of the settlement between the two mappings. Migration of the roads is clearly visible (marked by the double headed red arrows in Figure 5). It is important to note however, that almost all roads kept their functionality and main direction, but changed their exact track. This is an important observation, as the burial place is marked next to a road in the Anguissola map. Significant change can be observed in the direction of the settlement of Ba(z)sal, in the NW corner of Figure 5. This deformation could be responsible for the miss-location of the junction of the valley running to the south on the eastern side of Ba(z)sal with the valley of the Almáspatak. All in one we can state, that main features of the First Military Map (1784) are comparable with the Second Military Map (1858), but there are systematic differences/distortions between the two maps. After comparing the Second Military Map with recent topographic maps we can clearly state, that the Second Military Mapping provided reliable, good maps with a precise projection. This is not true for the First Military Map series, however. Line drawing of the Anguissola map fitted on the Second Military Map pages is shown in Figure 6. The correspondence of the two maps is surprisingly good in the vicinity of the Szigetvár castle, but the difference is getting more pronounced with distance. Double headed red arrows show those feature of the two map, which could be correlated. The edge of the marshland is reliably imaged in both maps, however location of both the valley to the west and the canal to the east, bounding the settlement is distorted. Based on these observations it can not

10 be excluded, that the burial place of Suleiman Sultan is mapped at a distorted position as well. This is more likely, as it is just at the edge of the map of Anguissola. What can be determined with great confidence however, is that the burial place was located east of the eastern edge marshland and just on the eastern side of the road running to the north on the eastern side of the valley. Based on this comparison it seems to be logical that the burial place of Suleiman Sultan was later marked as Töröktemető (see Second Military Map). This assumes severe distortion at the edge of Anguissola s map, but knowing the limitations of mapping of that age, this can not be excluded. Figure 5: Match of the corresponding parts of the First and Second Military Map series. Image shows the Second, while line drawing the First Military Map pages. Double headed red arrows indicate corresponding details of the two maps.

11 Figure 6: Match of the corresponding parts of the Second Military Map and Anguissola s map. Image shows the Second, while line drawing Anguissola s map. Double headed red arrows indicate corresponding details of the two maps. 3.4 Matching Anguissola s map with Digital Terrain Model (DTM) A high resolution DTM was derived from the present 1: topographic map for the vicinity of the Szigetvár Castle. This DTM clearly outlines the valley of Almás-patak and its side-valleys and canals. These boundaries can be used for matching the recent topographic maps with Anguissola s map. Figure 7 shows a possible match based on the western edge of the marshland and the side-valley entering the valley of the Almás-patak from western direction. With this fit the location of the burial place is just to the east of the edge of the marshland on a little elevation. It is clear however, that this match based on the western edge of the marshland creates discrepancies on the eastern edge of the marsh-land and the canal bounding the settlement of

12 Szigetvár at the time of the Second Military Maps. This discrepancy draws our attention to the fact, that Anguissola s map was made without a projection system and it could be severely distorted especially further away from the castle, nearby the edges of the map page. This suggests, that the match shown in Figure 6 is more likely to mark the ancient location of the burial place. Figure 7: Match of the corresponding parts of the DTM and Anguissola s map. Image shows the DTM, while line drawing Anguissola s map. Blue and green colours on the DTM indicate low land, while brownish colours more elevated area.

13 4. Conclusions Based on all the available information three possible locations have been identified: 1) Based on the direction of the eastern wall of the castle and assuming no distortion of the Anguissola map the location of the ancient burial place of Suleiman Sultan would fall in the valley of the Almás-patak. Presently this area is surrounded by woods. This solution is marked in Figure 3. Fitting error due to the relatively large distances can be significant and the location clearly contradicts with the fact, that the burial place is marked east of the eastern edge of the marshy valley of Almás-patak on the map of Anguissola. 2) Based on the fit to the western edge of the Almás-patak valley, and again not allowing any distortion of the map of Anguissola the location of the burial place would fall just east of the valley edge as marked in Figure 7. This solution is however weakened by the mismatch of the eastern edge of the valley and the mislocation of the canal. 3) Allowing distortion towards the edge of the paper in the Anguissola map the most probable solution for the location of the ancient burial place is marked by the Töröktemető sign in Figure 6. This satisfies both the criteria for location relative to the Almás-patak valley and the north-south running road.