Esztergom Basilica

The basilica stands on the hill where Hungary's first king was crowned, and the present building, begun in 1822 and consecrated in 1856, replaced a medieval cathedral lost centuries before. It is the country's largest church: a colonnaded front, a dome 71.5 metres high inside and a hundred metres high outside, and an altarpiece said to be among the largest paintings on a single canvas anywhere. The one genuinely old part is the Bakocz Chapel of 1506, carved in red marble by Italian craftsmen, dismantled into hundreds of numbered blocks when the new church went up and rebuilt inside it. Stairs run down to the crypt and up into the dome, which looks over the river and the bridge to Slovakia.

History

The first church on the site, St. Adalbert's, was built by Stephen I between 1001 and 1010 as Hungary's first cathedral; rebuilt after a fire in 1180, it was sacked in 1304 by Wenceslaus III and later enriched by the archbishops of the 14th and 15th centuries with a great library, before the Ottomans took Esztergom in 1543. After the archdiocese was restored in 1820, the foundation stone of the present basilica was laid on 23 April 1822, the crypt was built in 1831, and the upper church was dedicated on 31 August 1856 with the premiere of Franz Liszt's Gran Mass (Wikipedia, Esztergom Basilica).

Highlights

• The Bakocz Chapel - Renaissance red marble carving, taken apart and rebuilt inside.
• The dome walk - a long climb to a gallery over the Danube and the bend.
• The crypt - a heavy vaulted burial chamber below the nave.
• The treasury - medieval goldsmith work and vestments in a side room.

When to go

April to October, when the dome climb is open and the river view is worth the effort; the dome closes in bad weather and through much of winter. Mornings are quieter than afternoons, when day-trippers from Budapest arrive. The building is at its best in late light from the far bank of the river or from the bridge.

What to expect

The interior is cold, grey and severe for its size, and plenty of visitors prefer the outside. The dome climb is a long haul up narrow stairs and the final stretch is exposed and cramped; it is charged, as are the crypt and treasury, and the separate tickets add up. The hill is a stiff walk up from the town and parking near the top is limited and often full.

Nearby

The Danube Bend runs east from here, with Visegrad about thirty minutes downstream.

Key facts