Saint Emeric Church, Egyházasdengeleg: A Medieval Roman Catholic Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Hungary
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Hungarian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page13 sections
History
Saint Emeric Church is a medieval Roman Catholic church in Hungary, built in the Romanesque style around the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It stands in the cemetery of Egyházasdengeleg, in the Cserhát foothills beside the Bér Stream, and is regarded as one of the oldest surviving buildings in the Diocese of Vác from the past millennium. The church is dedicated to Saint Emeric, the Hungarian prince of the Árpád dynasty and son of King Stephen I, who is venerated as a Christian saint.
Romanesque foundation and Gothic enlargement
The original church may have been erected after Saint Emeric’s canonization. Its Romanesque building consisted of a rectangular nave and a straight-ended sanctuary. In the fourteenth century, the church was enlarged with a wider Gothic nave and a sacristy. The building therefore preserves two major medieval phases, with the earlier nave later serving as the choir.
Early modern remodeling
A 1697 Canonica Visitatio, an official ecclesiastical inspection record, described the church as well roofed and dedicated to Prince Saint Emeric. The building was remodeled in the Baroque style in 1710. A small turret above the facade was already present by 1722, and an organ was made around 1760.
Repairs followed in 1829, 1834, and 1908. In 1952, a leaking roof was replaced with a new type of slate used for historic monuments. A reinforced-concrete ring beam and tie rods were also installed at the tops of the walls to prevent further cracking.
Modern conservation
The first heritage restoration took place in 1976 under the direction of architect János Sedlmayr. The bells were moved from the attic to a modern bell frame erected in front of the church. The small roof turret and wooden gallery were removed, and the roof was covered with wooden shingles.
Between 1999 and 2002, the church was strengthened with state funding. After its foundation walls had been reinforced, longitudinal holes measuring 70 millimetres in diameter were drilled through the walls with diamond drill heads. Wall ties were inserted and tensioned where necessary, binding the walls together while allowing limited movement through their flexibility.
Remains
The church is a single-nave, approximately east-oriented building arranged along a symmetrical longitudinal axis. Its three principal parts are a straight-ended brick sanctuary, the original rectangular Romanesque nave, now used as the choir, and a wider rectangular Gothic nave built of stone. The exterior walls are unplastered, and the building has a hipped roof. Wooden shingles cover the sanctuary roof over its eastern end.
Medieval building sections
Romanesque nave and sanctuary
The Romanesque section has brick walls and a brick floor. A semicircular transverse arch separates the nave from the sanctuary, while the sanctuary itself has a cross vault. The eastern wall contains one semicircular-headed window. A similar window in the Romanesque nave, now the choir, is largely concealed by the sacristy. Along the northern side of the choir runs a diagonally toothed cornice set between two courses of brick.
Gothic nave
The western Gothic enlargement is constructed of rubble stone and has rubble-stone flooring. Its plain facade has a centrally placed semicircular-headed entrance with a stone frame and a single-leaf, band-framed door. About one metre above the entrance is a straight carved-stone lintel cornice. A small square window and a simple three-lobed rose window illuminate the gable. Inside, the Gothic nave has a flat timber-beam ceiling.
Stone sacristy
A stone sacristy is attached to the northern side of the former Romanesque nave. Its eastern wall has a small slit-like opening, while its northern wall contains a semicircular-headed window. The doorway connecting it with the church is pointed.
Openings and exterior features
The southern wall has a semicircular-headed window in the sanctuary, three high semicircular-headed windows beneath the roof in the choir, and two semicircular-headed windows of different sizes in the Gothic nave. The eastern sanctuary window completes the lighting of the earlier part of the building.
Interior furnishings and churchyard structures
Furnishings and liturgical features
The furnishings date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. They include a vernacular Baroque pulpit, an organ that is no longer used, and rustic wooden furnishings in the sanctuary. A pointed-arched tabernacle niche is set into the sanctuary’s northern wall.
Bell frame and stone cross
A modern bell frame with a shingle roof stands on supports at the church’s northwestern corner. A stone cross stands in front of the western facade.
