Cathedral of Pecs, Hungary

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In the heart of the old town of Pécs we find the Peter and Paul Cathedral founded in the first half of the 11th century. The historical and arts history significance of the cathedral is undeniable, which was acknowledged by Basilica Minor rank, donated by Pope John Paul II in 1991. The storms of history had impacts on building, so some parts of it were continuously renewed and reconstructed. The foundations of the undercroft are from the 4th century, in the 8th and 9th century the enlargement of the foundations led to the birth of the two towers on the west side. The other two towers were built later in the Middle Ages. At the end of the 13th century the roof and the ceiling were demolished by fire. In the 14th century the side-aisles were vaulted and the building was enlarged with two chapels. At the northwest gate stood the chapel to the Sorrow of the Virgin, while the Corpus Christi chapel was annexed to the southwest tower. In 1345 the walls were decorated with Gothic paintings. The Basilica suffered the most serious damages during the Ottoman rule. The Turks used the western half as a church, the rest of the cathedral as a storehouse of food and ordnance stores. The reliefs from the Árpád Era were also demolished by the Turks, the frescoes were painted white, and not even the Szatmáry pastophorium was spared. When the building was more or less restored, another disaster hit the basilica in 1704. The façade of the nave of the church was destroyed by Kuruc and Serb troops with their guns. During its centuries of existence the basilica was enriched with the signs of different styles. The cathedral is rich in the motifs of Gothic style, and some Classicist features can also be seen on the building. In the early 19th century the building was given a Classicist style lancet façade, by the plans of the architect Mihály Pollack. The façade was originally the place where the statues of the 12 apostles by Mihály Barlalits stood, they are now kept in rather bad condition in the court of the College of Theology of Pécs. In 1962-1963 the statues of the apostles made by Károly Antall were put on the south façade. The cathedral, of Romanesque style originally, was given its present shape in 1882-1891, due the architect Frigyes Schmidt who wanted to show the former beauty of the basilica in a Neo-Romanesque style. In 1965-1968 another restoration work was done to remedy the wall paintings, the carvings were cleaned and the gildings were completely renewed. In 2014 the Pécs Diocese launched the restoration of the southeast tower of the basilica and its conversion into a lookout tower, by European Union support.