Dominican monastery on Margaret Island, Religious ruins on Margaret Island, Hungary
The Dominican monastery on Margaret Island is a ruin whose remains show several building periods. Its main elements are the church, 51 m long and 12 m wide, Saint Margaret's grave and the nuns' convent. The site is open as a ruin garden.
King Béla IV founded this monastery in the 13th century and dedicated it to his daughter Margaret, who lived here as a nun. The buildings were destroyed over time, but the foundations and walls remain, marking an important period in medieval Hungarian history.
The monastery served as a school for noble girls as well as a convent: daughters of aristocratic families were sent here, some becoming nuns, others educated at the institute. Latin was not taught to all, so a series of Hungarian-language codices was produced in its library, including the Legend of Saint Margaret, copied in the 1510s by the nun Ráskay Lea.
The ruins are freely accessible in the northern part of Margaret Island and can be reached on foot from the main paths. There are no entry fees, but weather matters for exploring, so dry conditions make visiting more comfortable.
Margaret died in 1270, and her canonisation was requested by her brother Stephen V as early as 1272, but it only took place in 1944. The records of the inquiry opened in 1276 preserved details of her life and tomb, and formed the basis of the Margaret Legend, one version of which was copied by the nun Ráskay Lea in the 1510s.
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