Matthias Church, Budapest

Matthias Church (Hungarian: Mátyás-templom), officially the Church of Our Lady of Buda, stands on Holy Trinity Square in the Buda Castle District, right next to Fisherman’s Bastion. With its slender Gothic tower and roof of colourful glazed Zsolnay tiles, it is one of the symbols of Budapest.

Tradition says that Saint Stephen founded a church here in 1015, but the present Gothic building dates from the second half of the 13th century, when King Béla IV built the castle town of Buda after the Mongol invasion. The church is named after King Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490), who enlarged the south tower and married both his wives here. After the Ottomans took Buda in 1541, it served as the city’s main mosque for almost 150 years.

Its present look comes from the restoration by Frigyes Schulek in 1874–1896, who returned the church to its Gothic form and added rich Neo-Gothic details; at the same time he designed the Fisherman’s Bastion around it. Inside, every wall and pillar is painted with patterns and frescoes. Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth (“Sisi”) were crowned King and Queen of Hungary here in 1867, and Charles IV, the last Habsburg king, in 1916. The church museum in the crypt and the gallery shows sacred art and a replica of the Holy Crown.

Matthias Church is usually open from 9:00 to 17:00, but it can close for Masses and weddings, especially on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings. In 2026 a ticket for the church costs HUF 3,400 (students and seniors HUF 2,700); the tower can be climbed on a short guided visit up 197 steps for HUF 4,000. The church is also known for its organ concerts.

The church faces the Holy Trinity Column on Szentháromság tér. Take bus 16 from Deák Ferenc tér to Szentháromság tér, or ride the funicular from Clark Ádám tér and walk about ten minutes through the castle district.