Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 31. (2003)

A MÚLT RÉTEGEI - A SZENT GYÖRGY TÉR TÖRTÉNETE - Végh András: Középkori városnegyed a királyi palota előterében : a budavári Szent György tér és környezetének története a középkorban 7-42

VÉGH ANDRÁS The construction works did not only affect the southern end of the city but brought along the systematic rearrangement of the foreground of the palace too. Shortly before 1410 King Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387-1437) founded a new royal chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Sigismund on the highest point of the wide space between the two streets leading for the Royal Castle. Before the construction was started, civil houses of the site had been expropriated and pulled down. One of the first steps in the process was winding up the old Jewish quarter. As a result of the constructions, the formerly remote and secluded Jewish Street became the most important route leading for the Royal Palace. The change must have significantly influenced the move of the Jews. After the Jews had left the street was renamed St Sigismund, taking its name from the new church founded by the king. The Franciscan Friary named after Saint John the Evangelist and the Nunnery of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters, both founded in the Arpadian age were significantly enlarged during the late Middle Ages. Towards the middle of the 15th century Saint John's Friary became the centre of the Observant province and it was here that the college of the order worked. As the result of the progress by the end of the Middle Ages a quarter built up of the palaces of noblemen was formed in the foreground of the Royal Palace. 42