The paper deals with the material analysis of four emblematic stone fragments from
Saint Adalbert Cathedral and the Royal Palace of Esztergom from King Béla III’s era.
All of the four examined objects (two fragments from the Porta speciosa and two throne
arm-rests) have incrustations with red limestone basement and other colourful stone
pieces. As red limestone is a well-known material in Hungarian art history with a
rich historiography, the paper focuses on the findings of the analyses of other stone
materials of the incrustations. The research contains several non-destructive analytical
methods, such as relative humidity measurement, macroscopic and microscopic photography
and X-ray fluorescence with lithologic description. Besides the comparative analysis
of the stone materials, archive documents, the current state and the impacts of subsequent
restorations of the four stone artefacts were also studied.
