Inner City Parish Church, Catholic parish church in District V, Budapest, Hungary.
The Inner City Parish Church, officially the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands beside the Roman walls of Contra-Aquincum near Elisabeth Bridge. Its 52-metre towers hold four bells, two in the north tower and two in the south. A mihrab survives in the south-eastern wall of the sanctuary, and the 2014–2016 excavations opened the Roman camp commander's room and a lower church beneath the building.
A major fire destroyed the building in 1723, after which master builder János György Pauer directed its restoration from 1725 to 1739. This rebuilding work gave the church its distinctive Baroque style.
The church preserves an Islamic prayer niche in its southeast wall, a reminder of when the building served as a mosque during the Ottoman occupation. This architectural detail shows how different faiths and cultures once coexisted within the same space.
The church stands on Március 15. tér, beside the Elisabeth Bridge and the Contra-Aquincum fort walls. The Ferenciek tere metro stop on line M3 is a short walk away. The 2014–2016 works added a lower church, and the building reopened on 15 August 2016, so the interior and crypt can be visited again.
Researchers discovered an intact throne from the Anjou period hidden behind the sanctuary in 2010, originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This surprising find revealed that the building still holds hidden treasures from its earlier centuries.
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