Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

BUDAPEST 343

c. 1387 Church

redesigned as

Gothic hall-

church by

Sigismund of

Luxembourg

1945 Church is severely damaged

by German and Soviet armies

Holy figures on the pulpit

1526 Cathedral burnt

in the first attack by

the Ottomans

TIMELINE

Pulpit

The richly

decorated pulpit

of the church

includes the intri-

cately carved stone

figures of the four

Holy Fathers of the

Church and the

four Evangelists.

. Tomb of King Béla III
and Anne de Châtillon
The remains of this royal
couple were transferred from
Székesfehérvár Cathedral to
Mátyás Church in 1860. They lie
beneath an ornamental stone
canopy in the Trinity Chapel.

Stained-Glass

Windows

This beautiful

19th-century

stained glass

depicting Christ

the Lamb, is

from one of the

three arched

windows on the

south elevation.

. Mary Portal
This depiction of the Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin Mary is the most
magnificent example of Gothic
stone carving in Hungary. Frigyes
Schulek reconstructed the portal
from fragments.

The main altar,

created by Frigyes

Schulek, was based

on Gothic triptychs.

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST

Szentháromság tér 2. Map B2.

Tel (01) 489 0716. @ Várbusz.

# 9am–5pm Mon–Fri, 9am–

noon Sat, 1–5pm Sun. & 7

Museum # 9am–5pm Sun–Fri.

The roof is

decorated with

multicoloured

glazed tiles.

1250 1350 1450 1550 1650 1750 1850 1950

1458 Thanksgiving mass

following the coronation of

Mátyás Corvinus

1541 Ottomans

convert church into

a mosque

1686 After liberation of Buda

from Ottoman rule, church is

almost destroyed. New church

built with a Baroque interior

1970 Final

details are

completed

in postwar

rebuilding

programme

1896 Frigyes Schulek

completes the recon-

struction of the church

in Neo-Gothic style

1470 Mátyás Tower

is rebuilt after its

collapse in 1384

1255 Church originally

founded by King Béla IV

after the Mongol invasion

1309 Coronation of

the Angevin king

Charles Robert