Matthias Church
Matthias Church – This was the coronation church of Hungarian kings since King Matthias. The records of 1247 first mention this church as the main church of Buda Castle. The originally French building in early Gothic style has been consistently enlarged and rebuilt over the centuries. In 1526, when the Turks conquered Buda, the church was transformed into a mosque. After the reconquest of the city (1686) the church belonged to the Franciscans and later to the Jesuits. Between the years 1874 and 1896, Frigyes Schulek completely reconstructed the Church of Our Lady in the neo-Gothic style.
The Matthias church is on Szentharomsag utca in the castle district of old Buda. Although extensively rebuilt in the 1890s, it is a beautiful gothic church with a colourfully patterned roof and some excellent murals. The church is a focal point for Hungarian nationalism as it was here that Hungary’s kings were traditionally crowned and where Franz Liszt (or Liszt Ferenc as they say in Magyar) first performed his Coronation Mass in 1867. Although the real Crown of St Stephen is in a heavily guarded vault in the National Museum, there is an excellent replica in the Museum of Ecclesiastical Art within Matthias Church along with a detailed account of the extensive scientific research which has been carried out in the effort to date the Hungarian crown.
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