Peter of Alcantara Church, Budapest, Baroque Catholic church in District V, Budapest, Hungary.
Peter of Alcantara Church is a Baroque Franciscan church on Ferenciek tere, at the corner of Kossuth Lajos utca. Its main facade has a portal with the Franciscan order symbol, a statue of Mary flanked by two adoring angels, a crucifixion group, and niche figures of Saints Peter of Alcantara, Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua. The interior is a wall-pillar church with three side chapels on each side, Baroque altars and frescoes by Károly Lotz from 1894–1895.
King Béla IV had a first Gothic Franciscan church built here around 1250; after the Hungarian diet on the Rákos meadow, the Te Deum was sung in it. On 23 September 1526 the Turks destroyed the Gothic building and killed the friars, including P. András Vásárhelyi, author of the hymn Angyaloknak Nagyságos Asszonya (1508). After 1541 it served as the Dschami of Beg Sinan; the Franciscans held Mass again in summer 1686, received the church officially in 1690, and the Baroque rebuilding was consecrated on 21 September 1741.
The church is dedicated to Saint Peter of Alcantara, a Spanish Franciscan reformer. In the 19th century it was a spiritual centre of Pest, where the preaching trio of Fathers Albach (German), Gegó (Hungarian) and Gasparich (Croatian) worked. The interior acoustics and the organ allow classical music concerts to be held there.
Access to the church is straightforward from Ferenciek tere square, where the nearest metro station connects to the rest of the city. Visitors should plan their visit around service times to respect those in prayer.
The tower holds four bells cast by László Szlezák in 1928; the largest, weighing 2,967 kg, is Budapest's fifth-largest bell and the third-largest on the Pest side. The church interior and its organ also host classical music concerts.
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