Cave Church

As I said in my last post I recently visited my girlfriend Maria in Poland.  We had a wonderful time together and we visited many places and sites.  One place we visited was Budapest, Hungary.  We stayed there for a few days, and some of the numerous things we have seen have been the Churches there.

One of these Churches is called Cave Church.  And yes, it is EXACTLY what it sounds like.

 

 

 

 

 

This Church was literally built inside of a cave!!  And it looks awesome.

 

Right on the inside is a little tourist shop filled with many beautifully hand-made religious objects.

 

 

 

 

And then we were able to proceed through the rest of the Church.  We came across a confessional built right into the cave walls,

 

 

 

 



awesome-looking statues, including one of St. Paul, since it is the Pauline Order in Hungary who has the Church,

 

 

 

 

 

and wonderful wood carvings, confessional, and an alter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are numerous other pictures I took, which are up on my facebook.  Needless to say, this was worth seeing. 

 

The amount of history behind this Church is incredible.  It was originally built during the 1920s.  The cave itself was used by various Catholic priests and hermits as a place for preaching and healing, long before the Church itself was even built.  It was decided that the Church should be made in order bring the Hungarian people back to their Patron Saint, the Virgin Mary.  Hence, the official name the Church was given was the Cave Church of Our Lady.

 

When building the Church they ended up not being able to set it up according to their original measurements because other tunnels kept opening up when they would commence drilling.  Many people during this time thought that this was the work of God. 

 

The Church was used during WWII, but after the communist takeover occurred the Church was blocked off, and many monastic orders in Hungary, including the Pauline Order, were suppressed.  However, when Communism fell in 1989 the Church was able to be opened again and given back the Pauline Order.

 

The tour of the Church was a truly breathtaking experience.  Maria and I really enjoyed it and learned how God really worked through so many people and so many situations to make this Church come into existence.