Horváth M. Ferenc (szerk.): Vác The heart of the Danube Bend. A historical guide for residents and globetrotters (Vác, 2009)
Tartalom
236 SIGHTSEEING The reconstructed Stone Gate Emperor Francis I Joseph and Leopold are on the left. On the northern side, from where the ships carrying the royal guests arrived, the portraits of Queen Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I can be seen with an inscription summing up the history of the triumphal arch in between. There were several rumours circulating among locals about the arch. Some claim that the Queen did not even pass under it. According to one version, she was afraid that it would collapse, because she knew that the huge construction had been built in a very short time. Another one suggested that she dreaded the rebellious Hungarians: she feared an attempt on her life and/or blowing-up of the construction. It was also rumoured that the horses drawing her coach bolted and went around the gate. However, there is no documentary evidence to confirm or disprove the veracity of any of these versions although both the town records and the contemporary Austrian press covered Archdukes Joseph and Leopold the events. There Queen Maria Theresa One of the symbols of the town, the Stone Gate is another endearing legend saying that at the minute of Emperor Francis's death a lightning struck into the bas-relief portraying him and it even fell off. The huge block near the Stone Gate is the Penitentiary and Prison of Vác In its present form it surrounds and hides the Baroque building which was built by the Brothers of Mercy and later rebuilt by Bishop Migazzi for the purpose of a boarding school for noble youths called Theresianum in honour of the Queen's endowment. Between 1808 and 1855 it housed the Ludovica Military Academy; since then it has been a prison. In the courtyard there is a Neogothic chapel. Its parapet with the turrets is distinctly visible from the Danube. The chancel has a polygonal outline and it was decorated with neogothic wall paintings and coloured stained-glass windows. The two aisles used to have wooden galleries. For decades it was used as a warehouse, which seriously damaged the building. It has partially been renovated. Dukes Ferdinand and Maximilian The Stone Gate in the 1910s
