Cikádor Abbey, Cistercian monastery in Bátaszék, Hungary

Cikádor Abbey is a medieval Cistercian monastery near Bátaszék in Hungary, with stone walls and foundations of the original complex still visible today. The remaining structures clearly show the spatial organization of the monastery, including areas for worship, living, and daily work.

Founded in 1142 with support from King Géza II, the monastery was the first Cistercian abbey established in the territory of present-day Hungary. Its foundation marked the beginning of Cistercian influence in the region and shaped medieval religious and economic development.

The name Bátaszék comes from the abbey's merger with the Benedictine abbey of Báta after monastic life ended around 1478. In 1529 the Turks captured the site and turned the church into a mosque; after the 1687 reconquest it served worship again from 1718, when Serbs and Germans had settled in the village.

The excavated foundations and the ruin garden north of the present Nagyboldogasszony church are the visible remains; the garden was inaugurated in 2001 after digs began in 1994. The church itself, built in 1903 to plans by Antal Hofhauser, stands on the site of the medieval monastery church. Access to the ruin garden is arranged through the Bátaszék municipal office, so ask ahead.

The abbey's church was a three-nave, four-bay cruciform building with a transept, a rectangular-ended choir and two side chapels flanking the transept. Archaeologist Ilona Valter located the medieval church and monastery north of the present church in excavations begun in 1994; the church nave was uncovered in 1996 and the ruin garden opened in 2001.