{"id":26456,"date":"2017-02-23T00:26:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T08:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=26456"},"modified":"2017-02-23T00:26:42","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T08:26:42","slug":"matthias-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/matthias-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthias Church — Budapest’s Splashy, Gorgeous, Over-the-Top Church of Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The patterned roof tiles of Budapest’s Matthias Church were added in the late nineteenth century by architect Frigyes Schulek. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve got lots\u00a0of favorite churches. Most of them you’ve heard of — \u00a0St. Peter’s, of course. But also Chartres,\u00a0Westminster Abbey, Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

But there’s one more holy spot\u00a0sitting\u00a0at\u00a0the top of my list.\u00a0It’s the\u00a0wild and wooly, no-holds-barred\u00a0Matthias Church, in Budapest’s\u00a0Buda Castle District.\u00a0The church’s origins go back a millennium. But its best stuff wasn’t created until a little over a century ago.<\/p>\n

\"Hungarian<\/a>
Hungarian folk art motifs like these decorate nearly every inch of wall, ceiling and floor of the Matthias Church. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St. Stephen, Hungary’s beloved king, built a church on the spot in 1015. Over time, the church was destroyed, rebuilt, damaged and renovated. It took on a\u00a0a series of architectural styles from Romanesque to Gothic Revival, with\u00a0a brief failed attempt at Baroque.<\/p>\n

Most of the current building was erected during the\u00a013th century.\u00a0It’s formally known<\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a>
Spectacular ceiling detail — just one of many. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

as the Parish Church of Our Lady Mary, but took on the name Matyas or Matthias Church in the 19th century after King Matthias. Two Hapsburg kings were crowned there,\u00a0Franz Joseph in 1867 and Charles IV in 1916.<\/sup><\/p>\n

The basic design elements\u00a0of the church are pretty much Gothic Predictable. What<\/p>\n

\"Magyar<\/a>
Magyar folk art themes on\u00a0Gothic pillars. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

makes this church one of a kind — and a place worth an afternoon or two of gawking and craning your neck — are the embellishments added in the late 19th century by\u00a0the<\/p>\n

\"Detail<\/a>
A wall and pillar.\u00a0Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hungarian painters K\u00e1roly Lotz and Bertalan Sz\u00e9kely. Nothing escaped their aesthetic: nearly every wall, pillar and ceiling in the Matthias Church sports a design.<\/p>\n

The motifs are supposedly\u00a0based on Magyar folk themes, but I felt\u00a0a lot<\/a> of Art Nouveau\u00a0during the jaw-dropping hours I spent in its pews two\u00a0years ago, snapping<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Dots and sunbursts. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

photo after photo of their exuberant, life-affirming work.<\/p>\n

Go see it. Better yet, go be there for an afternoon. Yes, there are lots of spectacular churches around the world. But the Matthias Church creates and fills a category of its own.<\/p>\n

More beautiful arts and crafts at “The Ghost of 300 Million Drought Killed Trees Hovers Over a Lake in Texas.”<\/a>\u00a0 Also, “Sue Johnson’s Lamps and Shades — Art From a Little Shop in Berkeley.”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
A parish church — and a popular tourist destination. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Statue<\/a>
Statue of Jesus in the Matthias Church, Budapest. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Painting<\/a>
The Holy Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Budapest's<\/a>
The Matthias Church’s romanesque and gothic revival architecture stands in contrast to its interior paintings by two late 19th century Hungarians. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
The animals worked into the design had an Art Nouveau feeling for me. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The spectacular painted interiors of Budapest’s beloved Matthias Church make it a must-see for lovers of folk art and art nouveau. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1874,653,1875,135,887,1495,21,22,1876,91,33],"class_list":["post-26456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","tag-art-nouveau","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-budapest","tag-christianity","tag-churches","tag-europe","tag-god","tag-jesus","tag-matthias-church","tag-religion-and-spirituality","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}