Esztergom
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Located on the bank of the River Danube, near the Slovakian Border, the historical town of Esztergom lies about 50 km north-west of Budapest. Esztergom was the birthplace and the coronation site of King Stephen, the first Christian King of Hungary and the capital of the country until the13th century.
The neo-classical cathedral (also called Basilica) is Hungary’s largest church; it was built between 1822 and 1869. The church is 118 meters long with a 40 meters wide façade and its cupola height rises to 71 meters. It is the seat of the cardinal primate of Hungary. Inside the Basilica, the red marble Bakócz chapel from 1507 is worth seeing.
The reconstructed former Royal Palace from south of the Basilica was the royal residence until 1256, when the capital moved to Buda. The building became later the archbishop’s seat and now houses the Castle Museum.
The early-eighteenth-century Jesuit church is considered to be a very characteristic building of the historical city centre of Esztergom. Its annex houses the Christian Museum, the richest Hungarian ecclesiastical collection that preserves objects from all over Europe and Hungary dating from different centuries. The panel paintings and the wooden statues dating from the 15th – 16th centuries are especially remarkable.