Welcome to another episode of Churches Around The World from ChurchMapped and today we’re heading to see St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest, Hungary. Or more accurately, it’s Budapest. And speaking of pronunciation, be sure to not make the mistake of thinking it’s “Hungry”, It’s not “Hungry”, as in “I’m hungry for a piece of cake” or “I’m hungry for more exciting episodes of Churches Around The World from ChurchMapped”but “Hungary”. Budapest has sometimes been described as the “Paris of the East”. It’s an extremely beautiful city that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. And that’s a shame. So we’re doing our part by bringing Budapest to your living room, your kitchen or wherever you are in the world. But before we delve more into St Stephen’s Basilica, we should probably speak more about the city of Budapest itself. Interestingly, Budapest is actually what we would call in the English language – or French, if we want to get technical – a “portmanteau”. A portmanteau is basically the combination of two words together. Budapest is a portmanteau because it is comprised of two cities – Buda…no, not that Buddah, this Buda and Pest. They both combined in 1873 to form Budapest. Get it? Oh, and we should mention there was actually a third city that joined too called Óbuda or “Old Buda”. As we mentioned in our previous travel guide of St. Roch’s Church in Vienna, Austria – be sure to check it out – Hungary was once one-half of the Austro-Hungary Empire and therefore was a major player on the world stage. Budapest was the next major city after Vienna. Remember when we said that Budapest is sometimes described as the “Paris of the East”? It certainly is a beautiful city, but the relationship between France and Hungary goes deeper. In fact, the relationship between Hungary and France goes back as far as the 12th century at least. At that time, Bela III was the King of Hungary and was married to the French princess Margaret Capet. Speaking of France, be sure to check out our travel guide of Amiens Cathedral in Amiens, France [show picture and card of Amiens Cathedral, Amiens, France]. The long-standing relationship between the two countries can also be seen in the 19th century, whereupon there was substantial influence from French intellectuals, leading to the Hungarian Revolutions in 1848. 1848 was a major year for many countries in Europe remembered by historians today as the “Year of Revolutions”, and Hungary was no exception. The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was so important it is marked by a national holiday in Hungary, and it’s just one of three. It falls on the 15th March. The other two holidays are the 20th August, which commemorates both the founding of Hungary and its founder St Stephen, who we will be talking about today, and the 23rd October which commemorates a more recent revolution in Hungary – that being 1956. Though just to be clear – Hungarians don’t protest anywhere near as much as the French. Nowadays, Hungary doesn’t feature as much in the English-speaking media unless it’s referring to Viktor Orban or George Soros, who have ties to Hungary. But Hungary is certainly a significant country as far as history is concerned. Here’s a fun fact: Hungarian is often described as one of the most difficult languages in the world. Here’s another fun fact: Hungary was once one of the major football/soccer teams in the world. And one more, oooh please: Hungary’s Parliament Building is among one of the largest parliament buildings in the world. It might surprise the viewer but the Parliament Building and St Stephen’s Basilica are roughly the same size – apparently this was deliberately done to show the equality between the secular power on the one hand and the spiritual power on the other. If you’re curious to see another parliament building, be sure to check out our travel guide of Westminster Cathedral in London, England where we also mention the Palace of Westminster. ChurchMapped is an upcoming travel website specialising in churches around the world. We also offer a games, jobs, music and dating service too. Be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com and don’t forget to subscribe to us here on YouTube, give us a ‘like’ on Facebook and be sure to follow us on Twitter for all the updates and for the latest information on churches right across the world. Now that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at St. Stephen’s Basilica. If you watched our previous travel guide of the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon, Portugal, you will know that we spoke about what a basilica is. Be sure to check it out. Before you enter the church, you can just tell it’s a marvel. The door here features the Twelve Apostles. But those of you who are more observant will spot that this door refers to a “St Jacob”? In fact, two. Who is St Jacob? After all, the Twelve Apostles make no mention of a St Jacob. Ah, good question! Well, it’s actually referring to St James the Great and St James the Lesser, who you will probably know are indeed numbered among the Twelve Apostles. James is actually an English rendition of a Latinised version of the Hebrew name “Jacob”. We spoke about St James the Great in our travel guide of St. James’ Church (Spanish Place) in London, England – be sure to check it out. If you look above, one can’t help but be amazed at the intricate details. The arch here features signs of the Zodiac. Before we continue, let’s take a brief tour just to get an overview of what the interior of the church looks like. One of the striking things about the church is that it’s, well, fairly dark – much darker in terms of radiance than St. Dominic’s Church in Lisbon, Portugal – be sure to check it out. A person unfamiliar with St Stephen’s Basilica might be led to think that the basilica is named after St Stephen from the Bible, who is remembered clearly today for being stoned to death and forgiving those who put him to death. It’s not that St Stephen. Rather, it’s St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary. St Stephen is largely responsible for why Hungary is a Christian country today. Prior to his reign, Hungary was mostly pagan. St Stephen’s own name wasn’t actually always Stephen. It was originally Vajk, but it became Stephen after he was baptised. Baptism is one of the seven Sacraments in the Church, and it involves the pouring of water over one’s head in order to wash away original sin, which is believed to be the sin of our first parents. Do be sure to ask a priest about it if you’re curious to know more. In the case of St Stephen, he was baptised by St Adalbert of Prague, who was a very important bishop in the context of Central Europe, particularly the Czech Republic where it is said he composed the oldest known Czech hymn. He was later crowned king by Pope Sylvester II. Interestingly, the church was actually supposed to be called St. Leopold, who is the patron saint of Austria, at one point but it was later decided that it would be named in honour of St Stephen. It took around 50 years to complete, a big reason for the delay being that the dome of the church collapsed. Not once, but twice. That sounds really dramatic, and it is. The construction of the church was also delayed because it had to be postponed due to the 1848 Hungarian Revolution. Construction of the church started in 1851, a few years after the 1848 Hungarian Revolution. The first architect was a man by the name of József Hild, or Hild József in Hungarian. He was a major proponent of neoclassical architecture, and his influence into becoming an architect arose from his studies in Vienna, Austria – be sure to check out our travel guide of St. Roch’s Church in Vienna, Austria. However, sadly he died in 1867. It was then Miklós Ybl or Ybl Miklós in Hungarian who took up the tab and he continued to work on the basilica until he too died in 1891. It was then left up to the architect Kauser József to finish the job. The church was finished in 1906. At the consecration Mass, it is said that Emperor Franz Joseph I – who was Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary – frequently looked up in fear that the dome would collapse yet again. Thankfully it didn’t. As one walks around, we see a number of things that point towards St Stephen. For instance, the insignia here in Latin states: “St Stephen, ora pro nobis”. In English that is “St Stephen, pray for us”. If you watched our previous travel guide of St. Roch’s Church in Vienna, Austria you will see an explanation of this belief in asking saints to pray for us. Be sure to check it out. Also check out our travel guide of St. Aloysius’ Church in London, England to learn more about saints. Remember when we said that this church is reknown for holding St Stephen’s right hand? Well, this poster points to the area of the church that holds it. St Stephen’s right hand is what Catholics call a relic. A relic is an item or body part associated with a saint. Relics have frequently been associated with miracles. We mentioned relics in our travel guide of St. Dominic’s Church in Lisbon, Portugal. In some respects, the history surrounding St Stephen’s right hand has a story of its own apart from the man himself. As we walk around the basilica, there are some things associated with St Stephen that aren’t immediately apparent to a visitor were it not for ChurchMapped. Over here, we have a chapel dedicated to St Gizella of Bavaria. She was the wife of St Stephen and they gave birth to a son called St. Emeric. Speaking of marriage, be sure to check out our dating platform over at www.churchmapped.com/dating.html. If you’re single and thinking about marriage in the future, we’re sure our dating platform is the place for you. Unlike other dating platforms, we’re intimately tied with wedding planners and churches – a major wedding venue – to make what should be the best day of your life the best day of your life. You don’t have to be single to join our dating platform either. If you’re engaged, you can use our dating platform to connect with wedding photographers, wedding planners and more. Our dating platform will be live from May 2021 but you can visit www.churchmapped.com/dating.html for all the features we have in store for you. That’s www.churchmapped.com/dating.html. Bavaria which is where Gizella was from, or Bayern in the German language, is a region in modern-day Germany. If you’re curious to learn more, be sure to see our upcoming travel guide of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Regensburg, Germany which is in the region of Bavaria. Unfortunately St. Emeric later died but was eventually canonised as a saint with the help of St Ladislaus I of Hungary, who is also commemorated here. He is a significant saint in Central Europe but is relatively unknown in the English-speaking world. Among many other patronages, he is also called upon during times of plague, a bit like St. Roch who we spoke about in our travel guide of St. Roch’s Church in Vienna, Austria – be sure to check it out. That’s it for this episode of churches around the world from Church----oh no, not just yet! We couldn’t wish you goodbye without giving you one interesting tidbit. If you visit Budapest, or some would say Buda, you’ll see this guy. Who is he exactly? His name is St Gerard of Csanád. He came from what is modern-day Italy and he was the first bishop of Csanád and, among many other things, was also a tutor to St Emeric of Hungary. He was later martyred, however, during the Vata pagan rising by reportedly being thrown down from this hill. During St Stephen’s reign, Hungary was by and large peaceful. But shortly after his death, family disputes would come to cause internal tension within the country and St Gerard was unfortunately one victim. We think the monument is very beautiful and we hope you can see it in person too. If you’re curious to see more churches in Budapest, Hungary be sure to stay tuned for our upcoming travel guide of the Matthias Church as well as this church here which is run by the Franciscans. In our upcoming travel guides, we’re heading to London, England to visit the Church of Our Lady and St Simon Stock as well as paying a visit to Warsaw, Poland to see the Church of the Visitation Sisters of St. Joseph. St Stephen’s Basilica is known for its strong classical music scene too. Interestingly enough, we’ll see in our upcoming travel guide of Our Lady and St Simon Stock in London, England what this fact has to do with this church. And less relatedly, but yet still relevant, we’ll be exploring what exactly classical music has to do with the Church of the Visitation Sisters of St Joseph in Warsaw, Poland. Apart from that, if you’re curious to get the latest events in St. Stephen’s Basilica, be sure to visit www.churchmapped.com. You can also download our various apps directly from us, or from the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and/or Amazon AppStore. You can also download our extension for your internet browser which lets you get information for churches around the world in new and convenient ways in your browser. Just refer to the description below this travel guide for instructions on how to download our extension if you use Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge. ChurchMapped is an upcoming travel website specialising in churches around the world. We also offer a games, jobs, music and dating service too. Be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for information on churches right across the world. Also be sure to follow us on Facebook as well as Twitter.