St. Michael Roman Catholic Cathedral
History
The cathedral, built in the 13th century, was the burial place of the princes of Transylvania, and since 1991 it has been an archbishop's centre. It still contains the tombs of the Hunyadi family and the richly decorated stone sarcophagi of Queen Isabella of Hungary and Prince John Sigismund (John II). In its crypt, a long line of Transylvanian princes and bishops are buried.
In 1003, King Stephen of Hungary defeated his maternal uncle, Prokuj, gyula of Transylvania, and broke his power. This removed the obstacle to the establishment of church organization in Transylvania. The establishment of the Diocese of Transylvania was finalised by the king in 1009, during a visit by the papal legate. It is certain that construction of the first cathedral had already begun when the bishopric was founded.
The ruins of a 20 m long single-nave church with a single semicircular apse, with no written tradition, have been excavated 32 m from the facade of the present cathedral. This church was only in use for a short period, probably not fit for purpose, and was therefore demolished and replaced. It may therefore have been the first episcopal church. At the same time, 60 m to the east of this earliest episcopal church, there was a rotunda (round church), which was probably the castle church of the ispán of the country.
Prior to the foundation of the Diocese of Transylvania, from 952-953, missionary activity had already been carried out at the invitation of Zombor, gyula of Transylvania, by the Greek bishop Hierotheos, with a centre in Gyulafehervár or Sávaszentdemeter. In 2011, the foundations of a previously unknown church were discovered in the square in front of the main facade of the present cathedral, 24 metres from the entrance. The church, 20.7 m long and 12 m wide, with a simple Greek cross plan, a semicircular apse and a square nave, was built between the mid-10th and early 11th centuries. Its Byzantine-style layout suggests that it was built under the rule of the gyula. It was later replaced by a cemetery at the end of the 11th century, by which time it had been demolished.
Between 1905 and 1908, the architects Möller István and Fridli Sándor excavated under the floor of the present cathedral the remains of the foundation walls of an earlier three-nave basilica, ending in a single large semicircular apse. The dating is helped by the fact that the Maiestas Domini timpanon, which was transferred to the second cathedral during the demolition of the first one, can be clearly dated to around 1090 based on the seals of Prince Dávid and King Kálmán I of Hungary (1095-1116). It is one of the great building built during the reign of King St. László I of Hungary.
The construction of the second cathedral probably began during the reign of King Saint László I of Hungary (1077-1095). They did not use the foundations of the previous basilica, because they had planned a much larger, grander cathedral. The churches of Burgundy and central France were used as models for its construction. The new cathedral was a three-nave building with a central tower. The facade was decorated with two towers that reached up to the second floor of the present towers. Several details of the church have survived to the present day, such as the transept arches, the triumphal arch, the semicircular enclosures of the side sanctuaries and the narrow windows of the side apses. The sacristy, the eastern part of the nave, the northern vestibule and the prince's gate are from this church. The church was destroyed during the Mongol invasion, when it was set on fire after the people fled inside. Its vaults and the central tower, built at the junction of the naves, collapsed.
The central tower was not rebuilt at the time of the restoration. A slender early Gothic sanctuary was built. The rebuilding was barely completed when on 21 February 1277 the Saxons raided and burned the church. It was restored again with great financial sacrifices. In the 15th century the western part of the nave was vaulted and the towers were raised by two storeys. In 1439, the church was again damaged during a Turkish raid. In addition to the Archbishop of Esztergom, Hunyadi János, who is credited with the Gothic extension of the sanctuary, contributed to the restoration of the church. He built the ornate western main gate and the balcony between the two towers, which was later closed off by a triangular pediment. The great general then decided to be buried in the church.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the northern entrance hall was extended with the so-called Lászai Chapel. The chapel's altar, combining Gothic and Renaissance elements, was completed by 1512. Between 1512 and 1514, Bishop Várday Ferenc built the Várday Chapel, dedicated to St. Anne, between the chapel and the north transept.
The church was sacked in 1601 by the Vlach armies of Mihai Viteazul, voivode of Wallachia, the tombstones of the Hunyadi family were smashed, and in 1603 the cathedral was devastated after a siege by the imperial army of Giorgio Basta.
In 1658, during the Turkish punitive campaign against Transylvania, the church was again vandalised, and the ornate tombs of Prince Rákóczi György I and Prince Bethlen Gábor were smashed. In the early 18th century, Bishop Mártonffy had four altars erected from the material of the Rákóczi tomb.
The church is 83 m long, 38 m wide and 19 m high. Its floor plan shows the features of medieval Romanesque basilicas.
To the left of the main entrance, in front of the first column supporting the choir, is the tomb of Father George Martinuzzi. On one of the capstones of the arch is the family coat of arms of Bishop Szécsy, who rebuilt the church, depicting a two-headed eagle. The pulpit and the high altar of the church are 16th century works. In the lower part of the sanctuary there are Baroque stalls for the canons, biblical scenes on the backs of the chairs and busts of the apostles and Jesus and Mary above. In the western part of the southern side nave are the remains of the tombs of the Hunyadi family. The tomb of the governor's brother is the most intact, in the middle is the suppposed tomb of the governor, Hunyadi János, while the tomb to the east of it is that of his son, Hunyadi László. The identification of the latter two is completely uncertain; the reclining figure of the governor, for example, is more reminiscent of that of Prince Bocskai István. The tombs are in fact empty due to repeated looting and relocation. In the northern side nave we enter the Szécsy-Várday chapel. Here you will find the sunk-in floor tombs of Bishop Szécsy and Czudar Imre and the richly decorated marble tombs of Queen Isabella of Hungary and her son, John Sigismund.
The organ of the church was made by Kolonics István, an organ builder from Kézdivásárhely in 1877.
11 bishops of Transylvania are buried in the cathedral's crypt: Mártonffy György, Antalfi János, Sorger Gergely, Bajtay Antal, Manzador Piusz, Batthyány Ignác, Mártonffy József, Kovács Miklós, Vorbuchner Adolf, Márton Áron and Jakab Antal, as well as the martyred secret bishop Maczalik Győző.
The Diocese of Transylvania, founded by King St Stephen of Hungary in 1009, was renamed Diocese of Gyulafehervár in 1932, and was promoted to archdiocese in 1991.