Veszprem Things to Do

The first Hungarian king, St. Stephen, and his wife, Gizella, founded the first bishopric of the country here in Veszprém. This little chapel wears Gizella`s name, altough it was built only in the 1200`s, almost 160 years after Gizella`s death. Unfortunately for a tourist is absolutely prohibited making photos, so I can show you only a link of the internals:

The chapel inside

In the chapel you see an early gothic internal with two apostles painted in the 1200`s. Maybe there were other paintings but nowdays we can see only these 2. The walls were completely overpainted in 1772 and six more apostles were added.
Finally in 1937-38 the wall was restored and the later additions were removed so we can see the original two figures.

The admission fee is 300 HUF for adults (1,2 EUR) and 200 for children (0,8 EUR), just like at the Fire tower.

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Once you arrived to the valley you will see the Séd creek and to a very beautiful park. Get around the castle cliff (the Cross will be right above you) and you will shortly see a meadow wich offers another good photo taking chance. Some more steps the margaret ruins. This monastery dates back to the XIII. century.
Saint Margareth founded it in 1240 who was one of Béla the IV`s 2 daughters (both became saints). It went in ruins in the turkish period-as you can see in these tips, the turkish times were the sadest period in the history of VeszprÉm and all Hungary.
In the nearby there is the Museum of the Architecture in a caracteristical house.

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It`s the little Vár (vár=castle in hungarian) street that brings you up to the Castle. As you can notice, it`s not the gothic or othe medieval styles to caracterize the architecture of the castle. It`s not at all a surprise. Although the Veszprém castle resisted to the mongolian army, in the turkish era from 1552 to 1686 it was occupied by the turks and than liberated 10 times with the almost "obbligatory" senseless devastation. Than also Leopold, the habsburg emperor most hated by the hungarians (and vice versa) burned up the castle in 1708. Only in the baroque era began the reconstruction and the construction of the new palace, but fortunatley some very old and precious parts remained intact or almost intact even after these 2 sad centuries.
The Main gate of the castle is not original: it was built in 1936 to commemorate the casualities of the first WW. Near the gate you can see other examples of the incorporation of the wall in the later built houses.
The charming baroque building on pic N.3 was the bilding of the fire department in the 1800`s.

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Altough on the main pic you can see the year 1833, in reality this church was built between 1828 and 1836. Even if the bell tower has 2 levels, this is the lowest of the 3 churches in the Castle district. Inside you can see a very nice typical classical altar wich represents Saint Imre, St. Stephen`s, the first hungarian king`s son, while on the simple side altars you can see piarist saints.
The church can be visited free of charge but naturally every donation is wellcome.

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This is Hungary`s most ancient Cathedral-on it`s place even in the X. century, when Christianity wasn`t still the most important religion, there was a church. The Cathedral was founded around 1000 A.C. by Gizella, Saint Stepghen`s wife. On the inestimably precious first royal mantle wich you can see in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, there is a design representing the original romanesque cathedral. In 1380 this chathedral burned up and in 20 years it was reconstructed in gothic style. After the turkish devastations in the 1700`s began the new reconstruction and transformation in baroque style. In 1907 regained it`s original romanesque shape on plans of the architect, Sándor Aigner. The cathedral is currently under renovation as You can see on the images.

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-->...the main square. The building on the left is the City hall, while the one on the right with the baroque ornaments on the facade is again the Pósa house. Do you see that one covered on the second pic? Since 2003 I see that building in the same shape: since 4 years nobody continues the reconstruction. I would be very curious of what`s going on, but not even this time I managed to recieve some infos:) Probably there is some kind of a action at law or something. Well I hope that next year it will be finally restored. (I say it every single year>;-) ).
On the third pic you can see a cute little yard in the castle with the walls.

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This not very big, but very caracteristic church was built in romantic style on the projects of József Szentirmai in 1860 and it was the bishop Ranolder to commission it. In 1926 a chapel was added to it. In 1948 the communists wanted to take it away from the catholic church and it was the legendary cardinal Mindszenty to withold it. If you want to return to the Szabadság square, go up on the Óváry street (it begins right at the church) and you will arrive in 5 minutes. Than you can finally head towards the main square and to the Veszprém castle.

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On the Main square you can find the City hall built in eclectic style at the end of the XIX. century. You can see the Fire tower from here. There is a cute fountain (quite famous in Hungary) that represents a lady who is sheding water from a jug. From this place you can quit the main square (there is a street that goes down-see pic 4), but it`s better going on towards the Castle...-->