Cave Church at Gellért Hill

St. Stephen’s Cave Church - Gellért-hegyi sziklatemplom - Magyarok Nagyasszonya-sziklatemplom

Useful Information

Location:	Szent Gellért rakpart 1, 1114 Budapest Gellért Hill, Budapest. Opposite the Gellert Bath. (47.4849249, 19.0521678)
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 9:30-19:30. Tourists are not permitted during services. Services Mon-Sat 8:30, 17, 20, Sun 8:30, 11, 17, 20 (). [2025]
Fee:	Adults HUF 1,200, Children (0-9) free, Students HUF 1,00, Seniors HUF 1,000. Groups (20+): Adults HUF 800. [2025]
Classification:	Cave Church, Karst Cave. Lourdes Grotto
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=68 m, VR=14 m, T=21 °C. Cadastral number: 4732-1.
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Magyarok Nagyasszonya Sziklatemplom, Szent Gellért rakpart 1, 1114 Budapest, Tel: +36-20-775-2472. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1924	Pauline order founded.
Whit Sunday 1926	consecrated.
1931	construction of cave church by Károly Weichinger completed.
1934	Neo-Romanesque monastery completed.
1951	Hungarian secret police broke into the chapel and arrested the entire order of Pauline monks.
27-AUG-1989	reopened.
1992	demolition of the concrete wall and reconstruction of the chapel finished.

Description

Gellérthegyi-barlang (Gellért Hill Cave) is located 25 m above the Danube river on the hillside of Gellért Hill, hence the name. The cave is rather big with a huge entrance portal, which was visible from far, and as the Slavic word for cave is pest, this place was called Pest Hill. This gave name to the city Pest on the left side of the Danube. In combination with the village Buda on the other side of the Danube, it explains the name Budapest. In other words, this cave is one half of the name of the city. Budapest is a capital which is riddled with caves, and the name is well deserved.

The cave was probably used over millennia, but because of the various human alterations, there is no original content left for an archaeological excavation. During the Middle Ages, according to legend, a hermit named Istvan or Iván lived in the cave. He cured the sick with thermal water that rose in front of his cave in a muddy spring. Today the water is used for the Gellért gyógyfürdő (Gellért Baths) on the other side of the road, one of the famous thermal baths of Budapest. Istvan was later canonised, and the cave named Szent Istvan Barlang or Szent Iván-barlang (Saint Ivan’s Cave).

It seems the cave was used as a cave house for some time, in the 19th century a poor family built a small house into the huge entrance. The house was built of sun dried bricks. Then the cave portal was closed with wooden planks. There are no records, but the situation was shown on a painting by Mihály Mayr from the 1860s, and on a photograph by György Klösz taken in 1877.

In 1924 a Pauline order was founded and used the cave as a church. After they came back from a pilgrimage to Lourdes, they started to refurbish it. In 1925 and 1926 they transformed the cave by creating a new entrance with the use of explosives, and the interior was transformed into a copy of Lourdes. Later a Pauline monastery was built alongside and connected to the chapel with its own private entrance. It was now called Sziklakápolna (Chapel in the Rock) or Gellért-hegyi sziklatemplom (Gellért Hill Rock Church). Like lourdes the cave church was dedicated to Virgin Mary and named Magyarok Nagyasszonya-sziklatemplom (Our Lady of Hungary Rock Church).

In 1950 the communist regime abolished monastic orders in Hungary. The Pauline order was destroyed by the Hungarian secret police in 1951, the superior Ferenc Vezér was condemned to death, the others to five to 10-year prison sentences. The chapel was confiscated, the illuminated wooden cross on top of the rock, which was erected in 1936, was destroyed. In the early 1960s the entrance was sealed with a 2 m thick concrete wall for "security reasons". The cave served as a karst water inspection station and government store. The monastery was used as a dormitory of the State Ballet Institute.

In 1989, after the collapse of the communist regime, the Pauline Order was revived. They immediately took over their cave again and reopened the chapel in the same year. Renovation took some time but in 1992, the concrete wall was demolished and the chapel was consecrated. The cave is used as a church since then, managed by the Pauline Order, which today counts some 10 friars.

There has been a change recently, and we’re not sure if it’s for the better or worse. In the mouth of the cave the Pauline Visitor’s Center was installed. They offer audio guides in eight languages and show two films, one about the history of the cave church, and one about religion. Then the visitors are free to visit the cave church, but are asked to visit quietly. This has come with more changes, like reduced open hours and an entrance fee. Before the place was open freely as a normal church, of course the visitor had to respect the fact that it was a church. Donations were voluntary. Now there is a competent tour, which has many advantages, but it has become a tourist sight. Still it’s not possible to visit during services, and as a result there are no tours on Sundays because there are services all day.