Serbian Orthodox Church in Székesfehérvár: A Baroque Parish Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
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- Country
- Hungary
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Hungarian, Serbian
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page9 sections
History
The Serbian Orthodox Church in Székesfehérvár, Hungary, is a Baroque parish church dedicated to the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. It belongs to the Eparchy of Buda, the Serbian Orthodox jurisdiction serving the church, and is also known as the Palotaváros Church. The building stands within the historic area associated with the city’s Serbian community.
The Serbian community and the earlier church
Serbian settlers connected with the Ottoman forces established themselves on the western side of Székesfehérvár, in the area now called Palotaváros and Rácváros. Views of the city from 1601 already identified their quarter as Rácváros, a historical Hungarian term for Serbs. The community numbered about 300 people in 1777, 65 in 1940, and one person identifying as “Rác” in 1980.
A Serbian church already stood on the site in 1601. After the Ottoman expulsion from Székesfehérvár in 1688, the earlier church continued to be remembered by the community. By 1723 it was built of wood, branches, and wattle-and-daub. Repairs followed in 1733, and a tower was added in 1756.
Construction of the present church
The present church was built between 1770 and 1780. The main building was completed in 1771, and it was consecrated in 1772. Master mason József Kershoffer carried out the construction under an agreement with the parish that services would continue without interruption. The older church was demolished only after the new building had been erected over it, allowing worship to continue during the work. Furnishings were completed or acquired in 1780.
Renovation and continuing use
The church underwent a full renovation during the 1980s, together with surviving elements of the surrounding Rácváros settlement. These elements were incorporated into the Palotaváros open-air museum. Székesfehérvár received the 1989 Europa Nostra Grand Prize for the restoration of the church and the surrounding museum. The building remains an active Serbian Orthodox church within the Buda eparchy.
Remains
The church is a graceful Baroque structure with Rococo interior decoration. It stands within the Palotaváros open-air museum, among surviving elements of the former Rácváros settlement and surrounded by modern apartment blocks. Its main facade, tower, domed interior, sanctuary, wall paintings, and richly decorated furnishings remain central to the surviving complex.
Exterior and tower
Pilasters articulate the main facade, while lesenes divide the side facades. Semicircular niches above the principal entrance and on the southern facade preserve remains of wall paintings. A richly shaped cornice supports a gable with a round window, and Baroque stone vases stand above its volutes. The tower rises from the gable and has a clock cornice and a faceted spire. Erhard Schmidt renovated the tower in 1831, and a bell hangs within it. The bell weighs approximately 300 kilograms, has H1 as its fundamental pitch, and was probably cast during the nineteenth century.
Interior and frescoes
Inside, a domed space is divided into four bays and includes an organ gallery. The sanctuary ends in a semicircular form beneath a quarter-spherical dome. Folk-influenced Byzantine-style frescoes show scenes from the lives of Christ and Saint John the Baptist, to whom the church is dedicated. The wall paintings were produced between 1772 and 1774.
Iconostasis and paintings
The iconostasis, the screen of icons separating the sanctuary from the main body of an Eastern Orthodox church, is richly decorated in the Rococo style and is described as unique in Hungary. Ferenc Horváth, a woodcarver from Veszprém, and the local carpenter József Fijercskó made its woodcarving. Jovan Grabovan and Grigorije Popovity painted the icons in 1776.
Paintings by Katarina Ivanović are permanently exhibited in the church. Ivanović, a nineteenth-century Serbian painter commonly identified as the first Serbian woman artist, created scenes depicting the life of the Serbian community in Székesfehérvár.
Older icon
The oldest icon associated with the church is the Vladimir Mother of God, dated to the fifteenth century. It may have been brought to Székesfehérvár by the first Serbian settlers at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
