Veszprém – the Chapel in the Episcopal Palace

The chapel of the episcopal (now archiepiscopal) palace built during the episcopate of Ignác Koller (1762–1773) according to the plans of Jakab Fellner is located on its upper story in the western end of the northern wing. The nearly square room with a cavetto vault is lit by two windows on the western wall. The eastern wall of the chapel is filled by an altar structure decorated with gilded ornaments and covered with grey artificial marble. Its structure is articulated by pairs of fluted pillars, columns, and pilasters, and is crowned by a broken pediment with a basket-handle arch. The altarpiece was painted by Ferenc Szoldatits in 1896 and depicts Mary as the patron saint of the Hungarians accompanied by St. Emeric and St. Margaret. Each of the side walls has two niches with basket-handle arches that are separated by a pilaster and there is a stucco cornice stretching around below the vaults. While the western niche of the southern wall contains the entrance, the opposite niche has the original altarpiece of the chapel depicting Christ bound, a painting attributed to Adam Friedrich Oeser that was later placed in a carved Neo-Rococo frame. The ceiling of the chapel is decorated with a composition representing the allegory of Salvation, contained within an illusionistic painted balustrade frame made by Ignaz Cimbal in 1772. The painted architectural ornaments of the side walls are the results of renovations related to the Hungarian millennium celebrations and can be attributed to Rudolf Steiner, a painter from Sopron. Read less