St. Francis and the Franciscans in Ferencváros: a guided tour

Date: 24.09.2026. 14:00

Venue: St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church, H-1092 Budapest, Bakáts square (meeting point: main gate)

The history of the ninth district of Budapest, Ferencváros began more than two hundred years ago: at the end of the 18th century, this suburb of Pest got its name from King Francis (Ferenc) of Hungary, and in the beginning of the 19th century, it got their first priests. The Franciscans and the people of Ferencváros wept together during the flood of 1838, and rejoiced together fifty years later when the bells of today’s neo-Romanesque church, designed by Miklós Ybl, rang for the first time. One of the leaders and chroniclers of the church construction was the Franciscan monk Vilmos Kurtz, who dedicated his life to Ferencváros for half a century. It was a poignant event when, under his leadership, the priests of Ferencváros left the monastic life in 1900 as a result of the reform of the Franciscan Order by pope Leo XIII, and entered the service of the diocese of Esztergom.

On our guided tour, we follow, in the footsteps of this long 19th-century story in search of the signs left behind by Kurtz and his fellow Franciscans in the church. After the nave of the church, we visit the sacristy and the balconies next to the murals of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron of the church, and Saint John of Capistrano, a famous Franciscan who died in Hungary. These places are otherwise closed to the visitors. The walk ends with melodies reminiscent of the figure of St. Francis at the organ.

The tour is one and a half hours long, free of charge. Donations are welcome for the restoration of the organ house (brick ticket: 2000 HUF). The number of groups is limited (max. 25 people), so we ask for registration: kultura@szentferencplebania.hu