Tourist information - Places of Interest - Matthias Church

The real name of the church is the 'Church of the Blessed Virgin in Buda' , but it is universally known as the fact that the great Hungarian king Matthias held both of his weddings here. Originally it was the church of the German burghers.

The main eastern gate and the long apse are 13th century, the latter built after the French pattern and ending in a regular seven-sided polygon. The central part of the church was built around 1400. In Turkish times all the furnishings were removed and all the decorated walls whitewashed. Later is was converted into a Baroque church and by the middle of the last century it looked rather miserable. Between 1873 and 1896 it was restored by Frigyes Schulek, who preserved all the original elements found as thewalls were pulled down. His dream was a new building that would retain what was inherited from the past. The row of chaples along the north wall was added by him. The 80-metre spire has a rectangular ground and first floor, above which it becomes octagonal. Schulek kept the original tower intact up to the third floor, but from there finished it according to his own plan. It was also at the end of the last century that the walls were repainted on the basis of fragments found during the restoration. There is a clash of opinion on the artistic value of the church. Some regard it as a masterpice of European eclecticism, others claim that it is no more than overdecorated stage scenery. Both may be right. The building is evidence of all the knowledge the hardworking 19th century had of the Gothic period, but at the same time it is able to arouse emotions immediately, rather like a momentaeily glimpsed set in a film. Anyway, the man in the street like this church a lot.


Address: I. ker Szentháromság tér.