Castle
From the 11th C onwards the bishop and canon of the cathedral resided on
Castle Hill, which afforded protection to the town and allowed it to
develop. There had been a fortified building here since the time of the
Mongol attacks, and in the 16th C. Péter Perényis gave instructions for
the castle to be extended to withstand Turkish onslaughts; the work was
supervised by the Italian architect Giovanni Maria de Specia Casa and was
based on the designs of contemporary Italian fortresses. After the Turks
had succeeded with their second attack in 1596 in capturing both castle
and town, they repaired the castle once again. In 1702, on instructions
from Emperor Leopold I, the castle - like many others - was blown up. In
1783 it became the property of Bishop Károly Eszterházy, who used the
stone for his new buildings. Nationalism and a growing sense of history
during the 19th C led to the fortress being seen in a new light as
something to be preserved for posterity.
Cathedral
From the hill on which the medieval church of St Michael once stood the
massive Classical Cathedral (Foszékesegyház) now looks down on the town.
It was built in 1831-37 to the design of the Hungarian architect József
Hild, who reversed the usual scheme of things whereby the entrance area is
on the west side, and transferred the main doorway to the east side,
facing the Lyceum and the Old Town. The two towers at the west end are
counterbalanced at the east end by a portico with a wide flight of steps
leading up to it. The three large statues above the tympanum portray the
three heavenly virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; those on either side of
the steps are of the Apostles Peter and Paul and the holy kings Stephen
and Ladislaus.
They are the work of the Italian sculptor Marco Casagrande (1804-80), who
also created the façade reliefs in the columned entrance hall (Pietá, or
the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ on her lap, Jesus in the
Temple, Expulsion of the Traders). This artist was also responsible for
the interior decoration; special note should be taken of the painting of
SS Stephen and Ladislaus 1773 on the side-altar by the Baroque artist
Johann Lukas Kracker, and of the high altar (1834), the paintings on which
are by the Viennese artist Josef Danhauser.
Dobó
István tér
The market place below the castle, named after the legendary leader Dobó
István, forms the center of the town of Eger. After walking through the
narrow lanes of the Old Town the visitor will be surprised by the scale of
the market place, with its harmonious mix of beautifully renovated town
houses and the impressive parish church of St Anthony. The group of
figures in front of the church, the work of Zsigmond Stróbl, is in memory
of the defender of the castles on the south Hungarian border, while the
statue of Dobó István by Alajos Stróbl (1906) adorns that side of the
market place which faces the castle.
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Castle
Cathedral
Dobó
István tér
