View source for Kranj Archaeological Site

{{Article
| status       = NIFERTIK!
| maintainer   = Janez Premk
}}
{{Infobox
| name                = Kranj Archaeological Site
| localname           = Arheološki spomenik, Kranj
| street              = Glavni trg
| town                = SI-4000 Kranj
| mailing address     = Gorenjski muzej, Tomšičeva 44, SI-4000 Kranj, Slovenia
| telephone           = 386 (0) 4 201 3950
| fax                 = 386 (0) 4 201 3951
| email               = info@gorenjski-muzej.si
| website             = http://www.gorenjski-muzej.si
| managed by          = Gorenjska Museum
| contacts = {{Contact
| name                = 
| role                = 
| telephone           = 
}}
}}

{{Teaser|
The [[Kranj Archaeological Site]] or the Ossuary, opened to the public in [[established::1981]], is located at the north of the Gothic parish Church of St Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, and Protus in Kranj. The excavations carried out from 1953 to 1973 gave proof of very rich site history. The site is currently under construction.
}}

== History ==
Excavations were carried out over a period of two decades on the large Old Slavic burial place beside the parish church in Kranj. In the following years an archaeological site was organised north of the church and opened in 1981. 

Archaeological excavations in the interior of the church in 1984, and north of it in 1972, revealed a church complex as early as the 7th century, which consisted of a church building with side naves and octagonal baptistery at the north side, connected to the church with a short corridor. The original church was about 12 meters wide and 19 to 23 meters long, including the narthex.

== Site==
In an underground area the excavated material can be viewed under cover in chronological order, with photographs and illustrations. Also visible are the masonry foundations of a baptistry or memorial together with the semicircular base of the wall of a round ossuary dating from the late 13th century. On view are the remains of a cemetery chapel with a 15th-century tomb that belonged to the Counts Eghk, the owners of [[Brdo Castle]] near Kranj, plus a more recent ossuary that contains carefully-stacked layers of skulls and bones of the deceased.

== See also ==
* [[Gorenjska Museum]]

== External links ==
* [http://www.gorenjski-muzej.videofon.si/index.php?mid=4&locid=5 Kranj Archaeological Site website]
* [http://zupnije.rkc.si/kranj/?id=223&fmod=3 History review on Church of St. Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, and Protus, Kranj]


[[Category:Monuments and sites]]