From the apartment , Tom and I walked up the stairs and through the old city to the 8:30 mass at Matyas Church. This church was originally built in 1255 by Bela IV after the Mongol invasion, but has been rebuilt several times post liberations and wars. Originally the Church of our Lady Mary, it was renamed after the coronation of Matyas Corvinus in 1458. Legend has it that the prominent statue of the Madonna and Child was set inside a wall of the church during the Turkish occupation, when the churchs were converted into mosques. During the liberation of Budapest by the Christians in 1686, the church was virtually destroyed and the Madonna made a miraculous appearance which the Turks took as an omen of defeat. Budapest is a city of churches - multiple spires visible in every direction - but of all we have visited, this is my favorite. To me it was the most holy of places - the liturgy in beautiful, flowing Hungarian, the organ, the choir, and the amazing ornamentation created a very spiritual space. In painstaking detail, every surface is painted with different patterns all in the same tones and hues of red, green, yellow and blue creating a tapestry of color and design.
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