Pannonhalma Archabbey

Benedictines settled the hill of Pannonhalma at the end of the tenth century and have been there almost without a break since, which makes this one of the oldest religious houses still working in central Europe. The buildings are a stack of periods: a thirteenth-century basilica entered through the carved Porta Speciosa, a Gothic cloister, baroque ranges around the courts, and a neoclassical library of several hundred thousand volumes under a domed hall. The monks run a boarding school, an archive, a winery on the slopes below and a lavender field harvested for oil. A restoration by the architect Janos Golda stripped the basilica back to plain stone and daylight, which divides opinion sharply.

What you actually see

• The Porta Speciosa - the carved medieval doorway into the basilica.
• The library - a domed neoclassical hall holding several hundred thousand volumes.
• The cloister - the Gothic arcade at the centre of the monastic buildings.
• The hill view - the plain of the Little Hungarian Plain spread out below the terrace.

When to go

April to October, when tour frequency is highest and the gardens, lavender and arboretum are worth the walk; the lavender is cut in early summer. English-language tours run only a few times a day and sell out in the high season, so book ahead. Winter tours are fewer and the hill is exposed. Sunday and feast-day timetables differ.

Honest expectations

This is a working monastery, so access is by guided tour on a fixed timetable and wandering on your own is not permitted. English tours are limited and can be full. The library is viewed from a doorway rather than entered, which disappoints people who came for it. It is a twenty-minute uphill walk from the village unless the shuttle is running, and the winery tasting is a separate booking and cost.

Nearby

Gyor's baroque old town is half an hour north.