St. Stephen's Basilica

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In the heart of Pest, St. Stephen's Basilica honours the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen, who around the year 1000 founded the Christian Hungarian state; its greatest treasure is the Holy Right, the saint-king's incorrupt right hand, kept in its own chapel. Begun in 1851, its dome collapsed in 1868 and the church was redesigned in neo-Renaissance style by Miklós Ybl, to be consecrated at last in 1905; its 96-metre dome makes it, with the Parliament, the tallest silhouette of Budapest, and it is co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest. Every 20 August, Hungary's national feast of Saint Stephen, the great procession of the Holy Right sets out from the basilica through the city.