St Martin's Cathedral – Mukachevo (Munkács)
The Roman Catholic church in the centre of Mukachevo, built in an eclectic style, has been the cathedral of the Diocese of Mukachevo since 2002. Next to the early 20th-century church, the Gothic sanctuary of its medieval predecessor also survives.
A church already stood in Mukachevo in the 13th century. The parish appears in the papal tithe register of 1333, and in 1376 Queen Elizabeth allowed the town to display the image of the church's patron, St Martin of Tours, on its seal. The church was remodelled at the end of the 15th century, when Mukachevo belonged to the Hunyadi family.
In the following centuries it shared the turbulent fate of the town. In 1567 it burned down during the fighting and was then restored by Mihály Büdy, captain of Mukachevo Castle. During the Reformation it was used by Protestants; it burned again during the Polish incursion of 1657, and in 1660 Zsófia Báthory returned it to the Catholics. In 1685, during the siege of the castle, imperial troops set fire to the town together with the church; it has been Catholic again since 1688.
By the end of the 19th century the building was in such poor condition that a new church was built on the initiative of Count Schönborn. In 1904 the old church was demolished except for the 15th-century Gothic sanctuary, which became a chapel. The new church was built to plans by Győző Czigler and consecrated on 24 September 1905. At the entrance hangs a painting by Viktor Madarász, brought here from the closed church of Zsófiafalva, showing St Stephen offering the crown to the Virgin Mary.
On 27 March 2002, when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mukachevo was established, the church was raised to the rank of cathedral. Masses are celebrated in Hungarian, Slovak and Ukrainian.
Pilgrimage feast: on the feast of St Martin of Tours, patron of the cathedral and the diocese, 11 November.
Visiting: the cathedral stands in the centre of Mukachevo at Myru Street 2, with the Gothic chapel right next to it. Mukachevo Castle on Palanok Hill lies on the south-western edge of the town. Before travelling, check the current travel advice of your foreign ministry.
Sources: Wikipedia · Explore Carpathia – cathedral · Explore Carpathia – Gothic chapel · Wikipedia – Roman Catholic Diocese of Mukachevo
Photo: Dmytro Petishkin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 · Photo: Dmytro Petishkin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Town:
Mukachevo (Munkács)