The Church of St. Anne on the Buda side of Budapest is on Batthyany Square in Watertown, the area between the Danube River and Castle Hill. It is across the Danube from the Hungarian Parliament Building. Watertown gets its name from the frequent flooding it gets because of its proximity to the Danube. Batthyany Square was originally the main market square. St. Anne was originally founded in 1390. It was destroyed by the Turks in 1540 and re-established in 1686. It was under care of the Jesuits from 1686 to 1693, then again from 1723 until suppression of the Jesuits in about 1767. It was rebuilt by the Jesuits between 1740 and 1762. The church was restored again between 1970 and 1984. It is one of the best examples of Baroque in Budapest.
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| The bell towers of St. Anne, viewed from the Fisherman's Bastion near Matthias Church. |
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| St. Anne viewed from the Pest side of the Danube. |
The facade has two bell towers. In the center is a statue of St. Anne with Mary and the coat of arms of Budapest. There are allegorical statues of faith, hope and charity above the doorway. There is also the symbol of the trinity and two angels.
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| The symbol of the Trinity with angels on either side. Beneath is the coat of arms of Budapest. |
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| St. Anne with the young Virgin Mary. |
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| Allegorical figures of faith, hope and charity. |
The cupola has paintings from 1938, including representations of the Trinity. The altar has a statue of St. Anne with baroque columns.
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| The bright and wildly colored cupola. |
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| The altar, viewed from the back. We arrived toward the end of a service and I did not feel comfortable being any more aggressive with my picture taking, not wanting to disturb those there worshiping. |
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| The altar and very modern metal reliefs on stone. |
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| St. Anne and the young Virgin Mary. Presumably, St. Joachim, her husband and the father of the Virgin Mary, is to the right of St. Anne. St. Joachim is also first introduced in the Protoevangelium of James. |
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| Symbols of the Trinity above the altar. |
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| The ceiling above the altar. |
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| Other beautiful altars. |
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| A statue of Jesus |
St. Anne, Ann or Anna, from the Hebrew Hannah, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the grandmother of Jesus in Christian and Islamic tradition. She is not actually named in the Bible, but first appears in the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal work, probably written around 150 AD.
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| Another statue of Anne holding the young Mary. |
St. Anne was not part of my religious education, so this was an especially fun visit.I think the triangle representing the Trinity and being worshiped by two angels (located on the front of the building) is slightly bizarre and very fun.
ReplyDeleteI really like the uniqueness of the outside of this church. It was a nice change from the many gothic styles we saw.
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