They don't want to be forgotten

Tekla Balogh Bodor 

Esztergom is famous for its medieval and religious heritage. If someone visits the town, obviously the medieval castle and the Basilica will be the first places on the sightseeing list. Moreover, these two buildings are so dominant that they put other possible destinations into the shade. In this post, I would like to concentrate on some pieces of the built heritage of Esztergom that are rarely in the spotlight.

During the small period, I spent in Esztergom; I had been walking around in the downtown many times. I quickly fell in love with beautiful buildings mostly from the 19th–20th century. Sadly, most of these buildings are in very bad condition. Until recently, the buildings’ renovation has been hoped continuously.  

Let’s start our short online walking tour, with four building next to each other that are accidentally located on the way to the Basilica and the medieval castle from the downtown (Széchenyi square). Their renovation is more than urgent…

Red pin: The location of the buildings

The first building is the Fürdő szálló (Bath Hotel) in Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Endre street 11. The building was built in classicist style, in 1841. It was designed by Lőrinc Zofahl and Ignác Gramling. The hotel had its theatre, thus it quickly became the center of the local cultural life. After 1989, the building started to decay.  Today the hotel is empty, practically it is beyond recovery.

Source: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fürdő_Szálló
The Bath Hotel in 2011

Source: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fürdő_Szálló

Inside of the Bath Hotel (source: Fortepan / Bauer Sándor 1967) 

                       

Inside of the Bath Hotel (source: Fortepan / Bauer Sándor 1967) 

Kékfestőház in 2020 (The photo is taken by the author)

A few meters away from the Bath Hotel is located the Kékfestőház (Blue-Dyeing house). It was built in the second part of the 20th century. One part of the building functioned as a workshop, where the blue textiles were made. The traditional blueprint dyeing technique is on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list since 2008. (More about this technique in English: http://szellemikulturalisorokseg.hu/index0_en.phpname=en_0_magyarorszagi_kekfestes_hagyomanya ; https://hungarytoday.hu/traditional-blueprint-technique-added-to-unesco-world-heritage-list/)

Beside the Kékfestőház, there is the Wimmer-house in the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Endre street 22. The single-floor apartment house was built around 1860. The romantic building was probably designed by the architect János Prokopp. The window frames are characteristic neo-gothic. Although in 2010, at least the façade was not in a very bad condition, today the building is on the very edge of collapsing

Wimmer-ház in 2020 (The photo is taken by the author)

Wimmer-ház in 2010 (source: https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fájl:Esztergom_-_Wimmer-ház.JPG)

Directly beside the Wimmer-house is located the Káptalanház (Chapterhouse) that was also built in the year around 1860. The façade has two neo-gothic style niches. In the right one stood Mary with her child Jesus, probably the statue was removed in the past few years.

Káptalanház in 2020 (The photo is taken by the author)

Káptalanház in 2009 (Source: https://www.szeretgom.hu/content/57944-kaptalanhaz)

To be continued... 

Reference

Haris, Andrea and Somorjay, Sélysette. Magyarország műemlékjegyzéke – Komárom-Esztergom megye. Budapest: Kulturális Örökségvédelmi Hivatal, 2006.