Szablyár Péter: Sky-high - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2007)

Churches; Towers; Domes

Works, who had employed Schulek, summed up its findings thus: "It is just a patch of soil that this church occupies, but its moral significance for the nation is only limited by the borders of the country, and its value as a work of art goes beyond that even.” The whole reconstruction was followed with unfailing public interest, and a heated argument developed among the architects. Imre Henszlmann objected to Schulek's plans for the tower, which he described as an "ungainly, gaunt, rickety affair". He would have had a pair of squat, pyramidal ones instead. Schulek's radical ideas aiming for a complete overhaul made the historic buildings committee unsure of their intention, which is why they decided to take professional advice from Friedrich von Schmidt, the architect of Vienna's City Hall. Besides suggesting a 13th century appearance, Schmidt argued for a more flexible approach to reconstruction, and a separate treatment of the tower due to its prominent position in the skyline of the city as a whole: "due to the dominance of the tower, it should be essential that it receive outlines discernible at a great distance; to achieve this, the tower should consist of large segments and might have a pinnacle-studded gallery as its closure." He was against the idea of a second tower.

■ The Matthiai Tower

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