Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul (Pecs)

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul - a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Pecs , Hungary , a small basilica , the department of the Bishop of Pecs . The four towers of the cathedral, defining its original appearance, are the architectural dominant of the old city and serve as the hallmark of Pecs.

Cathedral
Saints Peter and Paul
Pécsi Szent Péter és Szent Pál Székesegyház
A country	Hungary
City	Pecs
Denomination	Catholicism
Diocese
Architectural style	Romanesque architecture
Architect
Founding date	1064 year
Site

The first early Christian chapel in Sopian, the Roman province of Pannonia , was founded in the 4th century AD. The temple was rebuilt several times. The lower church and two western towers date back to the time of St. Stephen , by whose order the Diocese of Pecs was founded. The modern basilica began to rebuild after the great fire of 1064; with the participation of Italian architects. In the Middle Ages, the church expanded and was completed, so in its appearance you can see the features of the most diverse architectural styles - Romanesque , Gothic , Classicism . In the XVI-XVII centuries, when Hungary was ruled by the Turks , the cathedral was used as a mosque .

At the beginning of the XIX century, the cathedral was rebuilt again under the leadership of the architect Mihai Pollack in the spirit of classicism. In 1882-1891, in honor of the millennium of the conquest of the motherland on the Danube, the cathedral was decorated with a classic main facade with pointed arched forms. The interior of the cathedral underwent a serious reconstruction - murals and gilded sculptures appeared in it. The implementation of the ambitious project of the Viennese architect Friedrich von Schmidt was funded, in particular, from the income of the Pecsk diocese from the extraction of coal in the Mecec mountains. Already in the middle of the 20th century, sculptures of the twelve apostles by Antal Karoy were installed on the south pediment of the cathedral.

The length of the cathedral is 70 meters , the width is 20 meters. The height of the nave is 22 meters, the towers of the cathedral are 60 meters, the bell of the western tower is one of the largest in Hungary. From the department of the cathedral, Janus Pannonius preached , the organ of the cathedral remembers the fingers of Franz Liszt . In 1990, the Cathedral was visited by Pope John Paul II .