Abstract Thanks to the wide use of the fruits of interdisciplinary research (history, archaeology, and art history) and a thorough analysis of written and architectural sources, it can be clearly demonstrated that, from at least as early as the end of the 12th
century, architects, builders, stonemasons and probably also sculptors from what is now northern and eastern France were operating in the Kingdom of Hungary (though it is not known to what extent). It is impossible not to see a correlation between their activity and the very early appearance
of the Gothic style in the territory of what was then Hungary. The architect–builder–designer–sketcher Villard de Honnecourt of Picardy, northern France, and his stay on the shores of the Danube are of particular interest. He was there most probably in the 1220s, but it is
unfortunately difficult to say for certain which of the edifices he worked on considering those that were erected at the time in the Kingdom of Hungary.
