Pécs Cathedral
Description
Pécs Cathedral has been a prominent feature of this Hungarian cityscape for centuries. In 1064, after a fire destroyed a Romanesque basilica, the King of Hungary, Peter Orseolo, initiated construction of Pécs Cathedral where the old church had stood. Completed in the twelfth century, it features Romanesque stone carvings of exceptional artistic value. In the 16th century, Turkish conquerors converted it into a mosque.
The Hungarians, who regained control of the city in 1686, altered the building in the course of its return to a site of Christian worship. From 1806 to 1813, Mihaly Pollack, a master Hungarian architect, remodeled the building in the Gothic Revival style but did not address structural problems that had accrued due to the many changes to the building in the preceding centuries.
By the late 19th century, much of the building was in critical need of structural repairs. From 1882 through 1891 architect Friedrich von Schmidt oversaw a restoration project that essentially leveled the building to its foundations and rebuilt it in a neo-Romanesque style. In 1990, Pope John Paul II’s visit to the cathedral was an occasion to draw new attention to the historic importance of the structure.