Budapest's Inner City Parish Church (Budapest-Belvárosi Nagyboldogasszony), officially the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the main parish church of

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. It is often referred to as the City Parish Church, or Downtown Parish Church.

Location

Downtown Parish Church is located adjacent to the walls of the Roman Contra-Aquincum Fortress and the

Elisabeth Bridge Elisabeth Bridge ( hu, Erzsébet híd) is the third newest bridge of Budapest, Hungary, connecting Buda and Pest across the River Danube. The bridge is situated at the narrowest part of the Danube in the Budapest area, spanning only 290 m. I ...

History

The earliest features of the church date back to the Romanesque period. In 1046, St. Gellért (Gerard), Bishop of

Csanád Csanád, also Chanadinus, or Cenad, was the first head ''(comes)'' of Csanád County in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 11th century. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony who had ruled over the region now known as Banat (in Ro ...

, was buried there. 14th-century

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ti ...

Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it '' Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...

of Hungary initiated its reconstruction in Gothic style. During the reign of King Matthias, two additional lateral aisles were added. It was used as a mosque in Turkish times and a

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

from this period is still visible in the south-eastern wall of the sanctuary. After a fire in 1723, it was restored between 1725 and 1739 in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

style, under the direction of the master builder János György Pauer (1692-1752). In 1828, István Kultsár (born in 1760), the great Hungarian theater promoter of the Enlightenment era, was entombed in the church's vault. In 1839, it was built with stalls selling the buttresses, which were dismantled in 1932. This brought back to light the Gothic windows and the twin bed. The church was restored several times: by János Hild between 1805 and 1808,

Imre Steindl Imre Ferenc Károly Steindl (29 October 1839 – 31 August 1902) was a Hungarian architect. Steindl (sometimes called in German ''Emerich Steindl'' or ''Emmerich Steindl'') was the designer of the Hungarian Parliament Building, an associate pr ...

in 1889, and Lászlo Gerő after 1945. The interior

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

s were restored in 1976–77. In 2010, in the parlor of the sanctuary behind the sanctuary, an Anjou-era (14th–century) throne of

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

was found, surprisingly intact. The exterior of the church was neglected until the facade was renovated in 2011 after the renovation of the park before it, executed by Hungarian architect Mezős Tamás. During the archaeological excavations carried out between 2014 and 2016, the camp commander's room was accessed and a sub-church was built. After the renovation, on August 15, 2016, the church was handed over to the faithful and visitors by Dr. Péter Erdő. When the Elisabeth Bridge was being rebuilt after destruction during World War II, the Communist government of Hungary sought to demolish the church, but the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

, through astute negotiation with the Communist authorities, managed to save this historic treasure.

Location

History

See also