St Catherine's Church – Lendava (Lendva)
The Baroque parish church of Lendava (Lendva) is dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria and stands at the heart of the cultural centre of the Hungarians of Prekmurje. It was built by the Esterházy family in the mid-18th century.
The parish of Lendava is first mentioned in 1334. A smaller church was built on the site of the present one around 1503. During the Reformation Lendava was an important Protestant centre – in 1574 the Lutheran pastor György Kulcsár published his Postilla here – and the Bánffy family, lords of the castle, also became Lutherans; Kristóf Bánffy returned to the Catholic faith in 1598 and had a church built next to the castle, completed by 1608. It burned down in 1683 but was repaired and continued to serve the faithful.
At the end of the 17th century Lendava passed to the Esterházy family. The present church was built by the Esterházy princes between 1749 and 1751 and consecrated in 1751 by Ferenc Thauszy, Bishop of Zagreb. Its layout was adapted to the street, so – unusually – it does not face east.
The Baroque church has four side altars, and the high altar is flanked by statues of four Doctors of the Church: St Ambrose, St Jerome, St Gregory and St Augustine. The image of St Catherine in the sanctuary was painted by the Italian artist Felix Barazutti in 1800. Burials took place in the crypt beneath the church between 1790 and 1916.
According to the canonical visitation record of 1778, services were already being held in the church in both Hungarian and Wendish (Slovene). During the First World War its bells were requisitioned for military use; new ones were installed in 1926. A modern statue of King St Stephen stands in front of the church.
Visiting: the church stands in the centre of Lendava; it is worth combining with a visit to the Esterházy castle above it, home since 1973 to the Lendava Gallery and Museum. The Bánffy Centre, the hub of Hungarian cultural life, is also in the town centre, and the Baroque Holy Trinity Chapel stands on the vine-covered hill above the town.
Sources: Wikipedia · Wikipedia (Slovene)
Photo: Krzysztof Golik / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo: Nxr-at / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Town:
Lendava (Lendva)
