Golden Possibilities – Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos (Lost Lands #129)

The closer I get to a border, the greater my need to cross it. Just as rules are made to be broken, borders exist to be crossed. Due to the binary nature of borders, they tend to occupy my imagination long before they appear. Either access will be permitted or denied. If turned back, then my trip will turn to disappointment. An entire trip can hinge on the swipe of a passport into an electronic reader, a knowing or quizzical glance from an official and their decision. My fate is in the hands of officials that I have never seen before, nor will I ever see again. Maybe that is why I find border control so worrisome. This stress obscures all that comes before it. I have very little recollection of any town or village within twenty kilometers of a border. I feel a perpetual tension that blinds me to all but the final obstacle looming in the distance. This is the reason I have no recollection of Sannicolau Mare (Nagyszentmiklos), the largest town on the DN6 before the Romania-Hungary border.

Missed Opportunity - A Closer Look

I should remember Sannicolau Mare. Unlike the villages along the DN6 that come before it, Sannicolau Mare is sizable enough that it should be impossible to miss. Subconsciously, I am certain I drove through it. Consciously, I do not have the faintest recollection of the town. Sannicolau Mare is one of those places I now stare at on a map and question whether I was ever there. The question is, “How could I have missed it?” Size should have amplified Sannicolau Mare. All the villages that came before it had two or thousand people. By that standard, Sannicolau Mare might as well have been a city. With 10,000 people, a castle, one world famous son, and recorded history that dates to the Roman Emperor Trajan’s conquest of Dacia, Sannicolau Mare demanded my attention. If only I had been in the present, rather than the future.

I usually do not give second thoughts to modest sized towns in Eastern Europe. Most of them are mere distractions that need not detain me on the path to my eventual destination. Sannicolau Mare is different. While researching my itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders, I learned of another buried treasure discovered in the Banat. The first one I had come across was a cache of 2,000 ancient coins found in 1847 at the village of Biled, 40 kilometers to the southeast along the DN6. That discovery pales in comparison to the one found at Sannicolau Mare in 1799. The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos sounds like something straight out of Santaland. The treasure’s name comes from the Hungarian name for Sannicolau Mare. Literally translated, Nagyszentmiklos means Great Saint Nicholas. At the time of the treasure’s discovery, Swabians, who had colonized the town less than fifty years earlier, were a majority of the inhabitants. Yet they were not the ones who found it. Nor was the discoverer an ethnic Hungarian or Romanian.?

Mysterious Origins - Matters of Interpretation

The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos was unearthed by a Serb farmer who was digging a trench on the Nako estate, owned by the chief aristocratic family in the area. The location was known as the island, because it was surrounded by the dry Aranca river. The gold vessels weighed a combined 10 kilograms (20 pounds). They included basins, bowls, chalices, cups, mugs and a funnel shaped horn. The most famous piece was a gold cup with a bull’s head which Hungarian nationalists referred to as Attila’s Cup, after the great Hun leader from the 5th century. Their nationalism led them to assume that the pieces were associated with the ancestors of Hungarians. This was one of many claims made about the vessels. Like all great treasures, the one from Nagyszentmiklós has mysterious origins.

Academics and archeologists believe the vessels were created in the early Middle Ages, between the 7th and 9th centuries. The vessels have been attributed to Avars, Bulgars, Byzantines, Khazars, Magyars (Hungarians) and Persians. The most likely of these are the Avars who ruled over the area in a Khaganate during the early Middle Ages. That has not kept other ethnic groups from co-opting the treasure for their own interests. Foremost among these were Hungarian nationalists, but they never held ownership of the vessels. Instead, it was the Austrian Habsburgs who gained control of them. Only a few months after their discovery, the vessels were in Vienna and have remained there ever since in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which also is home to the coins discovered at Biled. Romania has asked for the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos to be returned to them since it was discovered on what is now their national territory. These inquiries have been rebuffed. It is a shame that Sannicolau Mare cannot display the treasure, but not surprising.

Digging Deep - Stories To Share

The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos is still the source of great speculation. This has led to as many questions as answers by academics, archeologists, curators, researchers and amateur sleuths. What I find most fascinating about the treasure has little to do with the arguments concerning the vessel’s origins. Instead, it is that a major discovery was made in such an inadvertent manner. That makes me wonder what other treasures could still be found in Banat or my own backyard. The Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos rates right behind Henrich Schliemann’s discovery of Priam’s Treasure at Troy in my mind.

What makes the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos different is the serendipity that led to its discovery. If a Serbian farmer could find 23 priceless gold vessels while digging with rudimentary tools two-hundred and twenty-five years ago, then there is hope for anyone who keeps their eyes open. The best discoveries are the most improbable ones. Learning about the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklos was a revelation for me. That day I drove through Sannicolau Mare with only a border crossing on my mind, I did not know that the town had a great story to share with me or that the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós is not the only one. There are other tales from the town that need to be told. One of these involves a musical genius whose earliest life began in Sannicolau Mare.