Castle Hill
Budapest
Budapest
Hungary
Type: Religious Site
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St. Mátyás Church dominates the square. Built and rebuilt as often as the Palace, it has been the place of coronations and worship over many centuries. It is said that the first king of Hungary, King István, built a church on this site as an offering to the German settlers in 1015. It was destroyed in the Tartar invasion of 1240-41. Nevertheless, King Béla IV rebuilt the edifice in Romanesque style and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary.
Characteristically independent, the Magyars asserted themselves when the St. Mátyás congregation, after the Árpád dynasty died out in 1301, refused to accept the Vaticansupported Charles Robert. A mini-religious war ensued (to be repeated many times over), which culminated in a Magyar tour-de-force, when the congregation of Buda formally excommunicated Pope Boniface VIII along with his entire supporting priesthood of cardinals, bishops, priests, and deacons.
Of course, with power and persuasion, the Vatican eventually reigned victorious. Charles Robert was crowned in the cathedral in 1309. His son, Lajos the Great, who had built up a Gothic bastion at the palace, rebuilt Mátyás Cathedral in contemporary Gothic style. It was basically the same as what you see today, complete with rising Gothic pillars. But this too was covered over. Subsequent monarchies wanted something better.
The popular Mattias Corvinus was crowned King here in 1458 at the age of 14, and was married twice here as well. His first wife, the Bohemian princess Catherine of Podebrad, died as his queen, and was succeeded by his new wife, Beatrix, princess of Naples, who influenced his Renaissance tastes and the subsequent refurbishment. This was again changed, however, when the Turks conquered Buda in 1541. On the night of their victory, they occupied the church and turned it into a mosque for thanksgiving prayers to Allah.
For the next 145 years the art and treasure of the church was systematically effaced from the walls and replaced by whitewash and inscriptions from the Koran. The recapture of Buda by Christendom under the Hapsburg banners in 1686 saw the Jesuits energetically put a seminary and a monastery on either side of the church. With equal vigor they not only removed the Koran, they also removed the Gothic and replaced it with Counter-Reformation Baroque façades and dark interiors with candlelight.
Last updated February 19, 2008