Churches in Esztergom

Esztergom, Hungary takes about an hour to get to by car from Budapest, and by boat it takes all afternoon on the Duna (Danube River.) This used to be the capital of Hungary, so it has very nice buldings, and is on a scenic bend in the river.

The bridge below would take you over to the Slovak Republic.

I'm not sure this is a church (above, or below for that matter,) but they are interesting buildings nonetheless.

Bye Bye Budapest

This is the last photo I have from Budapest...until I go again someday.

Margit híd

Margit híd (Bridge) connects Buda and Pest with Margit-sziget (Margaret Island.) It's a funny Bridge. It has quite an extreme angle to it, which you can't capture very easily from river-level, maybe it would be fun to see from above (see my artistic map.)

Here are two details from the bridge. It's not beautiful, just decorative...

From Grander Times

The Palace in Buda on Castle Hill.

Mini Churches

I love the little sculptural models of churches that are outside of churches. Does anyone know the reason they are there?

Mátyás Templom, Budapest, Hungary


St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom,) Vienna, Austria

Look at These Roofs!

I love the colors. Roof tile decoration isn't something we often see in North America.

Mátyás Templom in Budapest


This is another Church in Budapest


St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) in Vienna, Austria

More Mátyás Templom

A sculpture of the King, St. Mátyás who the church is known (not named) after. (See previous post.) With Fishermen's Bastion in the background, which dates back to Medieval times.


Zooming in on the pedestal of the sculpture from above.


The side of Mátyás Templom that is not under construction right now (everything in Budapest is under construction right now!)

Where East Meets West

Hungary has always been an area that has been fought over by eastern and western powers. You can see it in the eclecticism of the architecture around the city of Budapest, and Esztergom for that matter (which will be represented in a future post.) I think Mátyás Templom (Mathias Church) is a prime example of the eastern and western influences. On the tour I learned that the patron saint of this church is Mary, so the proper name isn't Mátyás Templom, but the Church of Our Lady. This is a fact many tourists and residents do not know because it's so well known by its secular name.

The altar looks very Byzantine.


The wall paintings have a very eastern feel to them, but there are pictures of people and saints, which is more western.




The stained glass windows are very western looking. I only took a picture of this section because I really like the seals (as you can see from the blurry picture below.)

Beautiful Iron Work

This is a wonderful iron fence right across the street from where I took the photo from my post yesterday. Most iron fences do not have such beautiful detailed floral work. This is really nice design with the repetition and varied heights.

Architecture Inspired By the High Seas

This was about two blocks north of Pesti Barnabás utca and about one block west of Váci utca in Pest.

I have definitely seen faux-nautical buildings before, but I have never seen a building trying to be so classical with such nautical elements. There are sterns of ships sticking out of the facade of this building with women, and fish flanking each side. There are waves and shell-like shapes between each of the boats and figures, and very serene faces above.

There was a mast on the top of the building, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of it. I don't think it was especially aesthetically pleasing. It looked like wooden and rope telephone lines or tv antennas.