This study deals with the history of the carved stone monuments of the royal provostry
church founded by St. Stephen in honour of the Virgin Mary in the early 11th century
and destroyed in the time following the Ottoman occupation of the city. The epochs
of the research (at least of the reception of the stone monuments) are distinguished
in the study as follows: 18. century: the period of the final destruction of few remnants
of the church, and the beginning of the first interest for stone (mainly for Roman)
monuments. In the Bishop's Garden a collection of carved stones containing besides
Roman Antiquities also medieval pieces is formed. The first arcgaeological research
on the territory of the ruins was made in 1848, as the graves of King Béla III. and
of his Queen could be uncovered in an authentic way. In the second half of the 19th
century the monuments of Székesfehérvár were studied as witnesses of national splendour.
Imre Henszlmann conducts three excavation campaignes in 1864, 1874 and 1872 with different
impacts for his publications. In the first of these he published mainly well known
pieces with a few additions of his own findings while in his later books he seems
to have been interested mostly by other historic topics and not mentioning important
stone findings. In earlier time mainly stones carvings in secondary use could be collected,
and now important pieces found in situ came mainly on the Bishop's Palace. This collection
represented the Székesfehérvár Church at the Millennary exhibition in 1896. On the
basis of the idetification made by using written sources and also visual evidence
a group of about 27 pieces with vegetal ornamentation, vhich can be dated certainly
on the 12th century, can be probably localized on the eastern part of the medieval
church and considered hipotetically as belonging to the early rood screen of the second
building period.