Budapest’s neoclassical cathedral is the most sacred Catholic church in all of Hungary and contains its most revered relic: the mummified right hand of the church’s patron, King St Stephen. It was built over half a century to 1905. Much of the interruption during construction had to do with a fiasco in 1868 when the dome collapsed during a storm, and the structure had to be demolished and then rebuilt from the ground up. The view from the dome is phenomenal.
The basilica is rather dark and gloomy inside. To the right as you enter the basilica is a lift to the 2nd-floor treasury of ecclesiastical objects. Behind the main altar and to the left is the basilica’s main attraction: the Holy Right Chapel, containing what is also called the Holy Dexter – the mummified right hand of St Stephen and an object of great devotion. It was restored to Hungary by Habsburg empress Maria Theresa in 1771 after being discovered in a Bosnian monastery. The chapel was being extensively renovated at the time of research and was not due reopen before 2020.
