Veszprém – St. Michael’s Cathedral

Veszprém – Szent Mihály
Patronal festival
09-29
Történeti leírás
Medieval church construction era and reconstruction
The cathedral dedicated to the archangel St. Michael was built around 1040 in the seat of the diocese established by St. Stephen, which certainly existed in 1009, possibly on the site of previous buildings. Blessed Queen Giselle had the church built. The queen’s crown and the relic of St. George’s head were preserved here, and according to the charters, it was the burial place of Queen Adelheid, the wife of the Sainted King Ladislaus. During the Middle Ages, a cathedral chapter that had 36 membe...Read more
The cathedral dedicated to the archangel St. Michael was built around 1040 in the seat of the diocese established by St. Stephen, which certainly existed in 1009, possibly on the site of previous buildings. Blessed Queen Giselle had the church built. The queen’s crown and the relic of St. George’s head were preserved here, and according to the charters, it was the burial place of Queen Adelheid, the wife of the Sainted King Ladislaus. During the Middle Ages, a cathedral chapter that had 36 members operated in conjunction with it. It was looted in 1270 and a fire damaged it in 1380. Its Gothic reconstruction was completed around 1400, which included an extension to the north, the reconstruction of the crypt and the apse, and the vaulting of the nave. In the 1460s, the bishop Albert Vetési remodeled the chancel arch area (he probably built a new chancel screen), the entrance of the crypt was relocated, and the building was repainted. Read less
16-17 th century history
During the two Turkish occupations of Veszprém, it was used for secular purposes and a residence was built on the southern wall. The episcopal seat returned to the castle in 1630, and the bishop István Sennyei restored it to conditions suitable for liturgical use.
Historical description 1701-1945
It was damaged from cannon fire in 1704. In the 1720s, there was a major Baroque remodeling (chronogram on the façade 1723, painting 1726) while preserving the Gothic chancel, including the remains of the nave, as a three-aisled, vaulted church without a gallery. There were radical modifications to the chancel screen and a newly created crypt under the nave. The pair of towers on the façade had simple plaster architectural details and were topped with onion dome spires. The undivided side facade...Read more
It was damaged from cannon fire in 1704. In the 1720s, there was a major Baroque remodeling (chronogram on the façade 1723, painting 1726) while preserving the Gothic chancel, including the remains of the nave, as a three-aisled, vaulted church without a gallery. There were radical modifications to the chancel screen and a newly created crypt under the nave. The pair of towers on the façade had simple plaster architectural details and were topped with onion dome spires. The undivided side facades had low, semicircular arched windows. By remodeling the southern sacristy around 1762, Márton Padányi Biró constructed a burial chapel for himself on its lower level. He probably painted the crypt as well as installing an altar dedicated to St. Martin, an episcopal throne, and pews. The city square in front of the southern façade was reorganized in 1765 and a Holy Trinity column was erected there. At this time, an antechamber was constructed in front of the entrance on this side. In the 18th century, it served as a parish church, initially staffed by the Franciscans and Piarists. An altar to the Virgin Mary with a tabernacle was constructed in the crypt. In 1769, the bishop Ignác Koller erected a large new marble altar. The altarpiece depicted St. Michael defeating Satan is a copy of Guido Reni’s painting from the 17th century in Rome. The three pairs of side-altars (dedicated to St. George, the Holy Cross, St. Emeric, St. Anna, St. John of Nepomuk, and the Assumption) were rehabilitated during the 19th century through donations from canons. The church was renovated in a uniform Historicist style between 1907 and 1910 (although some furnishings were only renovated after 1912) on orders from the bishop Károly Hornig and according to the plans of the architect Sándor Aigner. The Gothic crypt and the details lost in the apse were reconstructed, and matching Neo-Gothic white marble altars were installed on both levels (by Béla Seenger, the corpus sculpture by Ferenc Velty). The nave was reconstructed in Romanesque Revival style, after demolishing the pillars and the nave walls above them, in part for structural reasons. This was rebuilt with a flat ceiling resembling a columned basilica. The former transept was built with minor projections on the basis of the discovered remains. The Romanesque carvings uncovered during the work were replicated in many places. The main spaces were given uniform Historicist furnishings (in addition to the two main altars, stalls, pews, sedilia for priests, a marble baptismal font and holy water fonts, brass candlesticks and lamp fittings were made by the carpenter Károly Ruprich and other craftspeople), and some of the former side altars were restored and relocated into the aisles. The new altarpieces depicted St. Charles Borromeo and St. Anna (Rudolf Steiner). Along with the architectural remodeling, the cathedral was richly painted with Romanesque Revival palmette foliage, frame ornaments, ancient Christian iconographic references, and figural paintings of the saints from the Árpád dynasty. In addition, stained-glass windows (Gida Waltherr) were made with ornamental carpet patterns, except above the high altar, where the figure of St. Michael is depicted in a painted Neo-Gothic architectural frame as the altarpiece. The organ was made in Ottó Rieger’s workshop. The bells and the copper roof were requisitioned for military purposes in 1916-18. Two confessionals were made around 1917 and two more in 1939. The façade was rehabilitated in 1923, and a carved wooden windbreak was built under the western gallery in 1928. A new St. Emeric altarpiece (Antal Schwarz) was made for the southern side apse and a memorial plaque for the northern aisle for St. Emeric’s anniversary year in 1930. The northeastern windows were damaged due to bombing in 1944. Read less
Historical description 1945-
New stained-glass windows were made in a number of stages between 1945 and 1956 by the order of the bishop Bertalan Badalik and according to the plans of Lili Sztéhlo. They depict St. Michael defeating Satan and Mary’s names from the Litany of Loreto in the main apse; St. Joseph and St. Gerard with the portrait of the bishop in the side apses; and St. Stephen, Blessed Giselle, St. Margaret of Hungary, and Blessed Ilona with symbolic allusions to Veszprém between them in the aisles. Archaeologica...Read more
New stained-glass windows were made in a number of stages between 1945 and 1956 by the order of the bishop Bertalan Badalik and according to the plans of Lili Sztéhlo. They depict St. Michael defeating Satan and Mary’s names from the Litany of Loreto in the main apse; St. Joseph and St. Gerard with the portrait of the bishop in the side apses; and St. Stephen, Blessed Giselle, St. Margaret of Hungary, and Blessed Ilona with symbolic allusions to Veszprém between them in the aisles. Archaeological research has been performed in the immediate surroundings by Katalin H. Gyürky (BTM) in 1958 and by Margit Dax and Sándor Tóth (LDM) in 1965. Partial historic preservation wall research and archaeological excavations were performed under the direction of Sándor Tóth (OMF) between 1968 and 1973. The roof was rehabilitated in 1968. The façade was rehabilitated in 1969-70 and projects planned by Ferenc Erdei (OMF) to renovate the interior, modernize the electrical systems, display the medieval wall materials that had been uncovered, replace the flooring in the crypt, and remodel the liturgical space of the main chancel took place between 1971 and 1976. Projects to rehabilitate the roof and façades as well as modernize the heating system took place between 2004, 2007 and 2009 according to plans by Ferenc Potzner (KÖZTI), while in the meantime Sándor Tóth made structural research observations (2007). The most recent archaeological investigations took place in 2009-10 in the southern transept, performed by András Fülöp and Anna Simon. Preparations for rehabilitation began in 2021. Read less
Mai templom adatai
Name
Roman Catholic church
Other popular names
Basilica
Location
Veszprém, Szentháromság tér – Vár utca; hrsz. 296.
Level of protection
monument
Heritage ref. number
4732
Heritage ID
10682
Recommended for protection
national protection
Original style
episcopal cathedral, parish church
Current defining style
Romanesque, Gothic, Historicist (Romanesque Revival)
Position in the church organization
episcopal cathedral, parish church
Supporting parish
Veszprém, St. Michael Cathedral Parish
General characteristics
This is an originally medieval church that is now in the Historicist and Romanesque Revival styles located at the highest point of the Castle Hill at the northern end of Vár Street as it becomes a square. It is free standing and oriented slightly to the northeast with a pair of towers on the western end. It begins as a three-aisled nave, but expands to five aisles in the two easternmost bays of the nave. The church is extended beyond the side apses by sacristies of the same height, and it has an...Read more
This is an originally medieval church that is now in the Historicist and Romanesque Revival styles located at the highest point of the Castle Hill at the northern end of Vár Street as it becomes a square. It is free standing and oriented slightly to the northeast with a pair of towers on the western end. It begins as a three-aisled nave, but expands to five aisles in the two easternmost bays of the nave. The church is extended beyond the side apses by sacristies of the same height, and it has an elongated polygonal main apse with buttresses above the crypt. The ground level in front of the western section of the northern wall has been lowered to approximately the medieval level, and there are metal stairs (1976) leading down to the external entrance of the Chapel of St. George and the crypt. The main entrance is the western grand portal. The southern entrance is for everyday use, while its northern counterpart is not in use. An exposed external stairway leads to the exterior entrance of the southern sacristy. There are semicircular arched and circular windows along the nave, a Neo-Gothic rose window on the western façade, reconstructed tracery in the Gothic openings of the main apse, and the authentic forms of the rectangular windows on the eastern axis of the crypt have been uncovered. The smooth plastering on the façades has a uniform color, along with carved stone divisions, portals with splayed jambs, and Romanesque Revival and Neo-Gothic carvings. The side walls of the two aisles display continuous sections of the medieval wall fabric that have been supplemented for interpretation. The nave is arranged as a basilica. The high clerestory wall of the main nave rising over the side aisles is pierced by windows and supported by columns covered with artificial marble decoration. The main nave is covered with a flat wooden ceiling, while the side aisles have shed roofs with an exposed wooden structure. The transepts have galleries and look down on the main nave through arcaded openings. From the main nave, there are two wide flights of stairs leading up to the raised chancel and two narrow ones leading down to the crypt, the southern of which shows part of the exposed Romanesque wall. The Gothic ribbed vault of the main apse springs from brackets with tracery, while the vault of the crypt springs from Gothic pillars and simpler brackets. There are white marble altars (1910) on both levels of the main apse. The Baroque tomb with colored stucco ornaments of the bishop Márton Padányi Biró is located in the lower level of the southern sacristy. The floor covering, the ornamental and the figural painting, and the majority of the furnishings date back to 1910, while the side altars are artifacts from the 18th and 19th centuries. There is colorful ornamental and figural stained glass in the windows. Read less

Parishes

Settlements

Settlement
Veszprém
Templomadatbázis