Budapest and St Stephen's Church

St Istvan (Stephen) Church in Budapest, Hungary

After the wonderful breakfast at Tibor's we proceeded downtown to visit the oldest and largest church in Hungary, the Saint Stephen's Church. It was built in the 1500hrs in honour of the first king of Hungary, St Istvan, who was later made into a Saint.


Beautiful stained glass icons

Though not as large as the Notre Dame, it is nonetheless a magnificent place of worship in a country which was predominantly non religious for 54 years under the Soviet occupation (from 1945 until 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down). Interestingly enough, Hungary actually supported the Nazi regime during the Second World War, as part of the Axis powers which my friend Tibor said was a 'mistake'. There are signs of the Communist rule in many parts of the city with statues and
monuments dedicated to the Soviet cause.


The preserved right hand of Saint Istvan

The hand of St Istvan was preserved somehow and till today, one can view the shrunken hand in a humidity controlled cabinet in the church.Hungarians are ethnically unicultural and there is only a very small population of non Hungarian people, the Han Chinese who typically keep to their small community in Budapest. They normally run Chinese restaurants and laundry shops as is their inclination the whole world over.


"I am the Truth and the Life" - from John 14 : 6 in the Bible

We were fascinated that Christian beliefs were widespread throughout Europe, making it all the way to Russia though we were not sure how many of the Hungarian population practised Christianity or any religion.I made a mental note to as Tibor the next time we meet in either Germany or China.


Tibor and Tunde outside St Istvan's (Stephen) Church

Budapest is not very builtup as in many other European major cities, like Paris or London.As the capital of Hungary, it is not very populated with a population of 1.7 million, down from a peak of 2.1 million in the late 1980s.Greater Budapest covers 525 square kilometers and is home to 3.2 million people.

Budapest was originally 2 towns one called Buda and one called Pest and became a single city occupying both sides of the Danube river after a unification of the right bank Buda and Obuda with left bank Pest.Regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe its extensive World heritage Sites include the Danube banks, Buda castle quarter, Andrassy Avenue, Heroes Square and the Millenium Underground Railway, the second oldest in Europe.

It is a city with beautiful charm and disposition which we hope we can visit again another time.