Bazilika, Budapest

Sankt Rechte des Königs. Es ist möglich die Schatzkammer und das Panorama von Budapest anzuschauen. Das Panorama kann vom April bis Oktober aus dem Rundaussichtsturm mit Lift besichtigt A Szent Istvan Bazilika Budapesten
a www.budapestinfo.hu filmje

official homepage: http://www.basilica.hu/index.php

Die Budapester Sankt Stephan Basilika ist die grösste Kirche der Hauptstadt. Zwischen 1851 und 1905 wurde sie im Neorenaissancestil gebaut, im Jahre 2003 fachgemäss restauriert. Das Aussenbild ist eindrucksvoll und der Innenraum ist künstlich. Auf dem Hauptaltar steht die Statue aus Marmor von Sankt Stephan. In der Sankt Rechte Kapelle befindet sich die Nationalreliquie der Ungarn, die Sankt Rechte des Königs. Es ist möglich die Schatzkammer und das Panorama von Budapest anzuschauen. Das Panorama kann vom April bis Oktober aus dem Rundaussichtsturm mit Lift besichtigt werden. Die Orgel ist über 100 Jahre alt und modern restauriert. Sie und die wunderbare Akustik der Kirche ermöglichen die Kirchenmusikkonzerte zu geniessen.
(http://www.zielungarn.de/szent_istvan_bazilika/I200344/)

V. Szent István tér 33, Tel: 317 2859, Website: www.basilica.hu, Open (mass times): 7am-9am, 5:30pm-8pm daily, Metro: M3 Arany János utca/M3 Bajcsy-Zsilinszky u
The Basilica of St. Stephen (which stands on the square of the same name) is Budapest's largest church holding more than 8000 worshippers.

Designed by Jozsef Hild in 1845, work only began in earnest in 1851. However, Hild died before the project was complete, leaving the task of overseeing its construction to architect Miklós Ybl. During an inspection, Ybl was amazed to find that huge cracks had appeared in many of the building's outer walls. Less than a week after cordoning off the site, the church's vast dome tilted and collapsed. The remainder was also declared structurally unsound and demolished to make way for Ybl's neo-Renaissance design. The building, which was finally opened by Emperor Francis Joseph in 1906, also suffered terribly from allied bombing raids during World War II.

In the Szent jobb kápolna (chapel of the Sacred Right) lies Catholic Hungary's most revered relic - what is claimed to be the mummified right hand of St. Stephen. For the princely sum of 60 HUF, you can get one of the resident attendants to flick a switch, lighting up the small glass case containing the hand. Eerie in the extreme.

Quite rightly, however, the inside of the Basilica has been criticized as being too dark - there are simply not enough windows for such a large building. Consequently, it's hard to fully appreciate the interior decoration of the church, which includes Gyula Benczúr's depiction of St. Stephen offering the Hungarian crown to the Virgin Mary. That said, recent improvements - which include additional lighting in the nave and the overhaul of the cathedral's organ - were part of a protracted restoration programme costing in excess of $17 million USD. Most of the funding, which was spent on the cathedral's exterior, has taken more than twenty years to complete although, judging by the results, it was certainly worth the expense! And, with the addition of an impressive piazza area, the Basilica is definitely a "must see" for first-time visitors to Budapest.
(http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/budapest_pages/sights_alpha1 .htm) (more) (less)