Welcome to the Matthias Church audioguide website
TRY THE FIRST 3 STATIONS FOR FREE
1. Holy Trinity Square
Dear Visitor, Welcome to the parvis in front of the Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle, or as is more commonly known, Matthias Church. In itself the very fact that the church has such a complex, dual name is an indication of the colorful, almost eight-hundred-year-long history of the building. Let’s start our tour by taking a look at what these names mean.
The Budapest of today was once two separate cities lying on the two banks of the Danube. Buda, the seat of kings of yore, lay on this side, with Pest on the other. The city of Buda originally lay on flat land, but when the Mongol hordes attacked Europe in the 1200s, they pillaged Buda along with many other Hungarian settlements. After the country was liberated, King Béla IV decided to establish the new city on a rocky outcrop that could be easily defended. This came to be known as Budavár—meaning Buda Castle—which is where we are now.
That is why the church is called Budavár Church in Hungarian to this day, since, just like in all cities, churches were built in Buda as well. Catholic churches always have patron saints: this one is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Hungarian name of the church, Nagyboldogasszony, denotes the assumption of Mary into heaven.
The full Hungarian name also includes the term parish church, which indicates that the building was built not for the use of any monastic order or ruler but for the city’s inhabitants. To this day, Matthias Church is more than just a tourist attraction: its primary function is to serve the area’s worshippers.
That is the explanation of the long name of Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle. Then why does everyone call it Matthias Church?
The original Church of Mary built in the 1240s underwent countless changes over the course of the centuries. One such reconstruction became necessary when the south tower collapsed during Holy Mass in 1384. The entire church ended up being rebuilt, with the new tower completed almost a full century later, in 1470. At the time, Hungary was ruled by King Matthias, who remains one of the favorite monarchs of Hungarians, with his name preserved in many tales and legends. When the tower was completed, the King placed his coat of arms on it. The tower in turn was named Matthias Tower, and later the name was used to refer to the entire church. Although the coat of arms on the building is only a copy, we will soon take a look at the original inside the church.
Matthias Tower has seen a lot of history over the centuries. When the Ottoman Empire conquered Hungary, they converted the church into a mosque and the tower served as a minaret used by the muezzin to sing the call for prayer. For a time, the tower was also used as a clock tower, showing Buda residents the exact time; since this was the highest point in the Castle, it even functioned as a fire tower up until 1911: night and day, fire lookouts worked to keep the city safe.
But of course the most important role of a church tower is to house the bells: the Matthias Church tower houses a total of six bells. The oldest of these is Holy Trinity Bell, which is more than three hundred years old: it was cast in Buda in 1723. The largest is Christ Bell, which weighs almost four and half tons and has a diameter of two meters.
The tower offers beautiful views of Budapest: check it out for yourself by buying a ticket and climbing to the top of the 47-meter tall observation level.
As mentioned earlier, the larger tower recalls the time of King Matthias, and the smaller recalls the style of the King Béla IV period. It is even named after him and is called Béla Tower.
A rose window, characteristic of medieval church architecture, adorns the façade between the two towers. For centuries, this window was hidden from view from the outside of the building: remnants of the window were discovered during a reconstruction at the end of the 19th century, when it was rebuilt in its original beauty.
Before we continue along our journey, it is worth stopping to admire the ornamentation of the main portal. Although most of the stonework on the façade is no longer original, there are some stone elements that date back all the way to the 13th century.
A statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus stands above the entrance. She wears the Holy Crown of Hungary on her head, and the inscription below her feet reminds us that she is the patron saint of not only this church but all of Hungary.
2. South Side
A number of events in the life of King Matthias are linked to the church: for example, this is where he held both of his weddings. In 1463, he married Catherine of Poděbrady and, after her death, Beatrice of Naples in 1476. Legend has it that both of his brides entered the church by way of the smaller gate facing the Danube, which is why the it is called Bride’s Gate.
At the top of the staircase next to it we can see a raven holding a golden ring in its beak. This was the heraldic animal of Matthias’s family, the Hunyadi family, and was placed here at the end of the 19th century in honor of the great king.
Barely half a century after the death of King Matthias, the Turks captured Buda, and the Church of the Assumption was used as a mosque for almost 150 years. After the Castle was retaken, the church was given to the Jesuits, who added a building to the right and one to the left side. One housed a seminary, while the other was used as a dormitory. From that point on, it was no longer possible to walk around Matthias Church.
Although the Jesuit order was later dissolved, the two houses built against the church and the resulting rather non-descript façade remained in place all the way up to the end of the 19th century, when it was decided to recapture the previous splendor of the historic building. One of the first steps was to remove all parts that had been added to the church after the Middle Ages, both inside and outside.
This work started in 1873 under the leadership of the architect Frigyes Schulek and was officially completed 23 years later, when the church was re-consecrated during the 1896 millennial celebrations of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, marked with large-scale events and the completion of a number of new buildings across the entire country–thus also including the consecration of Matthias Church. However, smaller works continued into the first years of the 20th century.
Although generally called a renovation, the work practically resulted in an entirely new building. Schulek’s intention was to make Matthias Church into a late-medieval gothic masterpiece perfect in every single detail. Certain previously hidden elements were uncovered during the excavation works, and these were then reconstructed true to their period. Where he had nothing to go on, he relied on his creativity and his enormous bank of knowledge—Schulek was well acquainted with even the most minute details in Gothic architecture. His imagination even led him to create plans for a symmetric Matthias Church with two identical towers!
Looking back, it may seem astonishing that Schulek was so cavalier in his treatment of such an important, centuries-old historic landmark; however, architecture was defined by an entirely different approach at the time. Compared to the sentiments of earlier centuries, the fact that they didn’t intend to create a building that appeared new but rather opted to showcase the values of history was in itself a huge step forward. This was not a singular phenomenon in Europe at the time: this was when the Cologne Cathedral attained its final form, when the practically barren main façade of the Florence Cathedral was adorned, and spectacular towers were added to the gothic cathedral in Barcelona. The work carried out by Frigyes Schulek is rightly held in high esteem by posterity, as we have him to thank for the fact that Matthias Church is an exemplary work of Hungarian gothic architecture as well as the Gothic Revival approach that breathed new life into it.
The following stop along our tour shows some elements of this style.
3. Statue of King St. Stephen I
If someone is interested in gothic architecture, they will find practically every element of it on Matthias Church. One of the main characteristics is that everything is pointy and reaches to the heavens. Another is the finely carved stone ornamentation on the façade.
At the start of the Middle Ages, churches had narrow, embrasure-like windows. However, by the time Matthias Church was created, light was let in through enormous lancet windows. Since the wall surfaces became daintier and lighter, they required strong buttresses to guarantee a solid foundation. Buttresses stand next to almost every window and are most prominent along the sacristy facing Fisherman’s Bastion.
These buttresses are topped with small towers called spires. Their original function was to add additional weight to the buttresses and make them even more solid, but they quickly took on an ornamental role as well, just like the horizontal gargoyle waterspouts that stick out from the spires. The gargoyles are responsible for making sure that the rainwater that collects on the roof does not drip down the church walls and cause water damage. However, their role on Matthias Church is mainly ornamental.
Gothic architecture was especially fond of shaping waterspouts into animals or monsters, which is what we can see on the upper part of the large Matthias Tower, both beneath and above the balcony level. Or even right in front of us, on the raven staircase tower.
The smaller metal tower behind the staircase tower, called the ridge turret, is also worth a look. As its base is not on the ground or the solid rock wall, it had to be made of a lighter material so it would not cause the roof to collapse. On some buildings, ridge turrets were made of wood; on Matthias Church, copper was used.
But it is not only the ridge turret that is interesting, but also the roof on which it sits!
Although Frigyes Schulek aimed to create a church that was medieval in every aspect of its appearance, he did not shy away from using the cutting-edge technology of the age to do so. He was good friends with Vilmos Zsolnay, the owner of the porcelain factory in Pécs, who had just developed a new material called pyrogranite in 1880, when the church was being renovated. Pyrogranite is a special type of ceramic that is suitable for decorating buildings and can withstand both hot and cold temperatures, and even air pollution and acid rain. As Schulek trusted this new invention, Matthias Church became the first building to use this new material. Both the beautiful colored roof tiles and the Virgin Mary statue at the main entrance are made of pyrogranite.
As pyrogranite proved to be reliable and durable both indoors and out, subsequent decades saw the material used on a number of buildings in Hungary, such as the Parliament Building or the Museum of Applied Arts.
The Zsolnay factory continues to operate to this day, and in fact manufactured the new elements that became necessary when the roof was being renovated. The tour will soon provide an opportunity for a closer look at the old tiles removed from the roof. In fact, you will even have the chance to buy some, which goes to supporting the maintenance of the building.
Frigyes Schulek created a picturesque work of art, perfectly composing not only the church but also its surroundings. After completing Matthias Church, he redesigned the adjacent simple, medieval Fisherman’s Bastion into a two-level observation terrace in the Romanesque Revival style. Works were completed in 1905, and the statue of King St. Stephen atop his steed, the creation of Alajos Stróbl, was erected in 1906. Schulek designed the pedestal for the statue to harmonize with the medieval atmosphere of the surroundings.
Tradition has it that Matthias Church was first established by the first king of Hungary, King Stephen I, which is commemorated on the relief on the rear of the pedestal, which depicts a generously bearded architect showing a model of the building to the monarch. Alajos Stróbl based the image of that architect on Frigyes Schulek and even included himself on the relief: he is the bearded man looking over the shoulder of the monk with the shovel.
In fact, most of the people on the pedestal were modelled after the artist’s contemporaries. Perhaps the most imposing is that of Franz Liszt, who holds the Patriarchal cross on the relief of the coronation ceremony. This fact is worthy of mention because not only Franz Liszt, but also coronations have a close connection with Matthias Church.
The statue depicts Saint Stephen wearing the Holy Crown of Hungary on his head, just like the Virgin Mary in the relief over the main entrance. The Hungarian crown is a special relic for a number of reasons and differs from other simple royal head adornments.
One reason is that the king was only allowed to wear it on a single day, namely on coronation day. What’s more, the coronation relics were kept locked away. The crown was used to coronate two monarchs here in Matthias Church: Franz Joseph I in 1867 and Blessed Charles IV in 1916.
Another reason why the crown is special is that it is the only one that may be used to crown someone king of Hungary. Anyone who attempted to do so with any other crown was not accepted, such as Charles I in 1309, who tried to have himself crowned king here in Matthias Church, but to no avail: the ceremony was invalid because it was not performed using the Holy Crown. He became true King of Hungary only a year later, when the correct crown was placed upon his head.
Now, let’s enter the church, where we will see many more depictions of the Holy Crown. After your ticket is checked, you will proceed under a beautiful relief as you pass through the Gate of the Virgin Mary. Don’t spend too much time looking at it as you enter, as we will take a closer look as we are leaving the building.
PRESENTATION
Using our audioguide, you can easily discover the cultural, historical and religious heritage of the almost 800-year-old Matthias Church.
Explore the beautiful halls and hidden corners of the church following the words of Dávid Zubreczki, a renown expert on hungarian church architecture! Discover the church at your own pace and let the beauty of the church speak to you!
We believe that this walk will be an encounter with the history and faith of our community, ultimately an encounter with the eternal, living God.
How it works
If you already have an AUDIOGUIDE ticket:
• Click the LOGIN button
• Enter the password provided at the church entrance and the AUDIOGUIDE interface will open
• Select the number of the given station and start the AUDIOGUIDE walk
• Each description is available in both audio and text form
• You can find your way around easily using the online map and the displayed numbers in the church
If you still do not have an AUDIOGUIDE ticket:
• Click the BUY button to purchase your ticket online (or go to the ticket office next to Matthias Church)
• Select the appropriate ticket type with the AUDIOGUIDE option
• After completing the purchase process, you will receive our confirmation email and your ticket
• We are excited about your visit at Matthias Church