Palace Chapel, Gothic chapel in Buda Castle, Hungary

The Palace Chapel is the lower chapel of the former Royal Church of Buda Castle, built under King Sigismund in the 15th century. Its 21 m nave and 11 m chancel were constructed on two levels because the plateau offered little space. The Gothic windows were later walled up when John Zápolya turned the lower church into a bastion.

King Sigismund built the lower chapel in the 15th century beneath the Gothic Royal Church of Buda Castle, whose 21 m nave and 11 m chancel stood above it. In 1489 Matthias Corvinus placed relics of John the Almoner here. After 1541 the Turks ended Christian worship, the upper church was destroyed in the 1686 siege, and the vault collapsed. Archaeologists found the ruins in 1949–50; reconstruction finished in 1963 and reconsecration followed in 1990.

The chapel was long known as the Alamizsnás Szent János-kápolna, after John the Almoner, whose relics Sultan Bayezid II sent to King Matthias Corvinus in November 1489; the king placed them here and re-dedicated the chapel with Renaissance furniture. The relics were carried to Pressburg in 1526 and are kept there today. A church inventory from 1530 records the wealth of the furnishings.

Access comes through the History Museum located within the castle, which includes entry to both the museum and chapel. It helps to allow enough time to explore both the museum and this space comfortably.

This space lay hidden beneath a Baroque terrace for centuries until excavation work brought it back to light. The rediscovery revealed the original medieval layers that had been sealed away and forgotten.