Archiepiscopal Palace (Eger)

The archiepiscopal palace complex is one of the largest building groups in the centre of Eger. It was built as the successor of the medieval episcopal palace in the Eger Castle, adjacent to the main cathedral and the lyceum (Széchenyi u. 1–5.)

History

Bishop Gábor Erdődy began constructing the palace using 16th‑century buildings: the parts completed between 1715 and 1732 were designed by Giovanni Battista Carlone. They wanted a ground‑floor building, smaller than the main one but much more splendid, surrounded by gardens, ponds and a birdhouse. The upper floor was built during the episcopate of Bishop Ferenc Barkóczy. Bishop Károly Eszterházy had it expanded between 1761 and 1775 by Jakab Fellner. The classicist‑style southern building group was erected by Archbishop László Pyrker János.

The building

Monument: registry numbers 2029, 2030 (cadastral numbers: 4568, 4569, 4570, 4572, 4573).

A wrought‑iron fence separates the decorative garden (cadastral number: 4573) in front of the eastern (main) façade of the U‑shaped building complex from the street. To the south and north of the decorative garden each a single‑storey building wing bounds it; the irregular, roughly trapezoidal courtyard behind the southern wing is surrounded by single‑storey palace wings. Behind the northern wing stands an irregular pentagonal‑plan farmyard and farm buildings.

The central building has an irregular floor plan, three‑storey on the east side, two‑storey on the west side (due to the terrain rise). The central part is connected on both sides to carriage entrances leading to the perpendicular wings (architects: Josef Ignaz Gerl, Francz József). Walking through the northern carriage entrance, on the western side of the central wing the former episcopal pin system’s old entrance is located. The eastern façade is decorated in its central axis by a wrought‑iron side‑balcony standing on consoles. The ground floor of the central building is vaulted, the first and second floors are characteristically flat‑slab. The carriage entrances, the entrance hall, the decorative stairwell are adorned with stucco and carved stone elements. On the second floor are tile stoves built in the second half of the 18th century. A chapel spanning two floors with an oratory is attached to the western side of the central building; its furnishing is partly 18th‑century.

The southern building group (registry no.: 4568) has its main façade facing Eszterházy Square; its gate opens in the central axis. Above the gate a wrought‑iron side‑balcony on consoles projects forward. Above the main cornice there is a balustraded attica with a inscription in its central area. On its two outer axes a pavilion covered with a half‑dome rises. On the courtyard façade of this wing, in the risalit set in the central axis, the stairwell was built by junior József Zwanger between 1827–1847. The elegant wrought‑iron gate and the balcony rail of the central building’s upper floor were forged by Lénárd Fazola.

The decorative stairwell attached to the northern façade was built in 1765 by Jakab Fellner.

The northern building group (Archbishop’s Court, Széchenyi St. 5.) together with the decorative garden wing is protected under a separate monument number.

Institutions, attractions

The Archbishop’s Office was located in the southern wing.

The north wing was once the economic building; now it houses the Archiepiscopal Collection Center. Here, among other things, they guard the coronation mantle of Maria Theresa: this and several other exceptionally valuable items of the collection were given to Bishop Gábor Erdődy of Eger by the empress as a gift. The majority of the exhibited objects are masterpieces of 18th- and 19th-century goldsmith and textile art:

reliquaries,

chalices,

relic holders,

ciborium,

mass vestments,

mantles.

Also in the north wing is the Diocesan Archive:

From the medieval archive of the diocese only the “Saint John books” containing serf services from the second half of the 15th century have survived. Episcopal protocol records exist from 1600, continuous church administration documents from the early 18th century, and the earlier period is represented only by a few 17th‑century documents. Archbishop Ferenc Barkóczy took office in 1745; from then on the episcopal protocol volumes were used as letter‑copy books. The arrangement of the documents was first entrusted by Bishop Károly Eszterházy to two Jesuits, and in 1766 to one of his priests, Ignác Torner. He was succeeded in this office by Mátyás Kotuts and then István Fangh; as a result of the work of the three, in 1778 the economic archive was separated and in 1779 the ecclesiastical archive, both organized thematically with inventory books.

In 1804, when the diocese of Kassai and the episcopal see were established, the documents of the confiscated parishes (such as the church visitation records) were selected and taken away, leaving only the protocol books in Eger. The extent of the archives was thus reduced by almost half, and in 1805 the remaining material was reorganized into new subject groups, while the subsequently created ecclesiastical administrative and economic documents were handled as a separate unit called “new archive” (Archivum novum), initially with sequential numbering, and later according to the subject groups established by archivist József Hangony between 1818 and 1830. The documents had been kept since the 1770s in the room of the archiepiscopal palace built for archival purposes; only the documents dated after 1923 were transferred in 1954 (during the dual handling of the archive) to a separate storage.

The parish archive is not guarded by the main diocesan archive, because its authentic local part was nationalized after 1950, and in 1964 its private archive part (together with the economic archives of the archbishopric and the seminary) was also handed over (as a deposit) to the Heves County Archive.

An Archiepiscopal Visitor Center was established in the palace complex.