Church of Krisztinaváros, Baroque Catholic church in Krisztinaváros district, Budapest, Hungary.
The Church of Krisztinaváros is a Roman Catholic church on Krisztina Square in Budapest's First District. Its main facade is flat and calm, because Kristóf Hikisch's undulating Baroque design was not built for lack of money. The church was extended toward the sanctuary in 1943–1944 by Tibor Brestyánszky and László Borsos, who moved the 1796 high altar on steel rollers and added a small cross nave.
In 1694 the Italian-born chimney sweep Péter Pál Franczin vowed to make a pilgrimage to Re in Italy's Vigezzo valley if his family survived the plague; he returned with a copy of the Marian image and built a wooden chapel in his Buda vineyard, called the Blood Chapel. It burned in 1723 but the image survived, and a stone chapel became a pilgrimage site. The present church was begun on 13 September 1795 to plans by Kristóf Hikisch under the Franciscan Groll Fábián, and was extended toward the sanctuary in 1943–44 by Brestyánszky Tibor and Borsos László.
The church is also called Krisztina-templom or Alsó-Krisztina, while the Upper Krisztina church is the Saint John the Baptist church on Apor Vilmos tér. Its feast, Our Lady of the Snows, is celebrated on 5 August, as approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1757. The grace image came from Re in Italy's Vigezzo valley.
The church stands on Krisztina tér in the Várkerület district of Budapest, on the Buda side of the river. The 1943–44 extension added a small cross nave behind the sanctuary, so the main altar now sits further from the entrance than the 1796 layout suggests. The parish also runs the Szent Gellért Catholic school founded in 1993.
In 1943–44 the sanctuary was extended: rails were laid under the 1796 high altar and it was pulled aside on steel rollers with hand winches, then the sanctuary walls were moved the same way. The freed space was walled in as a small cross nave, and the original dome fresco of the sanctuary was uncovered during restoration.
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