The Inner City Parish Church is the oldest church in Pest. It stands on the remains of the Roman Castrum Contra Aquincum at the Pest end of Elisabeth Bridge. In the 11th C there was a little church here in which Bishop Gellért was buried in 1046. A semicircular choir was added in the 12th C, at which time the church was already being used by the Royal Family.
Extensive rebuilding in the Gothic manner and based on French models took place under King Sigismund. The side-chapels were added in the second half of the 15th C. During the Turkish occupation the church functioned as a mosque. On the south-west wall remains of a Turkish mihrab (prayer-niche) can still be seen. During the occupation of the neighboring old royal town of Buda by Austrian troops in the years 1684--6 the church suffered considerable damage. Years later rebuilding took place in Baroque style under the architect G. Paur.
In 1726 the church received its south tower and in 1739--40 the north tower was completed. Restoration in classical style was undertaken by J. Hild in 1805--8, and eighty years later it was again refashioned in Gothic style by Imre Steindl. In 1948 work began on rebuilding following severe damage in the Second World War.
Exterior
The juxtaposition of two styles, Gothic and Baroque, is very impressive. Although the nave and towers have remained in Baroque style, the choir -- which is almost as long as the nave -- reveals the Gothic influence. The main doorway on the west side has a beautiful Trinity statue by A. Hörger from Buda; the figure of St Florian behind the choir (1723) is also by Hörger.
Interior
The interior is in the form of a single-nave vaulted building with four side-chapels formed by dividing off the medieval side-aisles. The magnificent Gothic ambulatory choir is separated from the main nave by slender pillars. Note also the two Renaissance epitaphs of red and yellow marble in the north chapels. The pulpit (1808) is the work of P. Ungnad from Pest.
In the spandrels of the pointed arches in the polygonal south chapel the remains of early 15th C frescoes can be seen. The modern High Altar was designed in 1948 by K. Antal and P. C. Molnár.
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