General information
Service:
Monday-saturday: 8:00, 19:00;
Sunday:7:00, 8:30, 11:00
Adress:
Keszthely, Fő tér 5.
Tel.:
+3683/314-271, +3683/312-459
Curiosities
The Franciscan church in Keszthely is the biggest built memory of the medieval activity of the mendicant order. The walls were built with shuttering on the basis of the ground-plan, in it broken stones were thrown filled in with unslaked lime and then it was watered. Thank to this method the stones get burnt together. Around 1550 during the time of the Turkish attack it was converted to a fortress on the basis of Giulio Turco’s plans.
This church built in Gothic style is the oldest building of Keszthely.
History of the parish church of Main Square
Keszthely, Csáktornya and the belonging domains were given as a present to István,Laczkfy to the follower of King Luis the Great for his being in the king’s service in the middle of the XIV.century. During the struggling for the throne after Luis the Great’s death he was against Sigismund Laczkfy but later they settled down and then he was given the palatine honour. Around 1368 he got the Franciscans settled down here and had their church built on the Main Square around 1390. Laczkfy turned against Sigismund in 1396 again but this time he did not get away with. The king ensnared him and he had him executed being charged with conspiracy. His mortal remains allegedly without head rest in peace in the church having been built by him. His statue on horseback has been decorating the Main Square since 2000.
The tower of the church
The 60 m high tower in front of the church is totally different than the other parts of the building. Tasziló Festetics had this tower built instead of the original wooden tower in 1878. In the tower built in neo-Gothic style rosette from the XIV century was built which decorated the western gable.
Frescos of the church
In 1974 frescos covering the whole sacristy were discovered during some electrician works in the church. Later it came to light that these frescos are the biggest, continuous medieval frescos of Hungary. The enormous fresco series (Jesus’ life, assumption, saints, bishops, kings) are probably more masters’ work and their style show trecento representing the early renaissance of Italy.
Pictures from the parish church
