Cathedral Treasury

The Cathedral Treasury in Esztergom, operating on the floor of the Great Blessed Virgin and Saint Adalbert Cathedral and open to visitors, is a church art collection. It is Hungary's richest church treasury, which also has an outstanding collection of metalwork and textiles in a global context. Its permanent exhibition presents nearly 400 liturgical masterpieces, among which the coronation cross, the Suki chalice, and the most valuable piece of the exhibition – also the country's largest jewelry treasure – the Corvin Calvary stand out.

The public museum function of the Cathedral Treasury was initiated by Archbishop and Cardinal János Simor of Esztergom at the end of the 19th century: in 1886 he made it possible for part of the artifacts to be viewed by the general public, thereby establishing the museum character of the collection. Today the treasury not only serves as an exhibition space but also as a centre for research, artifact conservation programmes and scientific publications. In a separate room here is the Mindszenty memorial, which was previously viewable in the Old Seminary.

The main groups of the collection's material: metalwork art creations – liturgical objects made of gold, silver and other precious metals such as chalices, monstrances, baptismal fonts, reliquaries and pastoral staffs; liturgical textiles – embroidered chasubles, copes, stoles and altar cloths representing the embroidery techniques and decorative arts of various periods; sculptural works – including sacred statues, altar elements; modern church art – 19th–20th century liturgical objects that reflect the incorporation of modern stylistic trends into ecclesiastical art.

The most valuable piece of the Main Cathedral Treasury, also Hungary's largest jewelry treasure, is King Matthias's chalice. Another outstanding piece of the collection, which is also a notable representative of medieval Hungarian goldsmithing, is the Suki chalice. In the treasury's collection we also find liturgical textiles and goldsmith works used at the coronations of Hungarian kings, including the silver cross made in the 13th century on which Hungarian kings swore their oath at their coronations.