Saint Michael Church, Budapest District V, Catholic church in Budapest District V, Hungary.
Saint Michael Church is a baroque church built between 1700 and 1765 in Budapest's Belváros district. Its nave ceiling carries frescoes painted by Aman József, whitewashed in 1964–1968 and under restoration since 2012. The interior holds a two-manual, 25-register Rieger organ made in 1892, rebuilt from 2007 by organ builder Paulus Frigyes.
Dominican friars founded a house and church in southern Pest around 1230; after the Mongol invasion the church moved to a new site, where the 1308 diet elected Charles Robert king. The church was destroyed under Ottoman rule after 1541, and the present baroque building was raised between 1700 and 1765. Joseph II dissolved the Dominicans, so the Paulines held it in 1785–1786 and the English Ladies teaching order received it in 1787.
The church has belonged to the Congregation of the English Ladies (Angolkisasszonyok) since 1787, when Joseph II dissolved the Dominicans and the building passed from the Pauline order to this teaching order. Since 2004 the Ferenc Liszt choir, led by conductor Mária Farkas, has performed here, with concerts held weekly from Easter to December. Children's biblically inspired drawings and collages are often exhibited in the church.
The church stands in Budapest's Belváros district, near the Danube bank of District V. The interior was repainted in 1964–1968, when the ceiling and wall paintings were whitewashed, and restoration of the nave frescoes by Aman József began in 2012. Since 2004 the Liszt Ferenc choir, led by conductor Farkas Mária, has performed here, with concerts held weekly from Easter to December, some free and some ticketed.
The 1838 flood left the Danube standing two metres deep inside the church. In 1809 a fire had already destroyed its roof and two of its towers. The ceiling and wall paintings by Aman József were whitewashed over during the 1964–1968 exterior renovation, and their restoration began only in 2012.
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