The project will be the first comprehensive renovation of the church in more than forty years: the church was last completely refurbished between 1954 and 1964, because of serious damage suffered during World War II, and its interior was redone in 1970.
The renovation will involve the restoration of 600 square metres of murals and 11,000 square metres of ornamentation. All of the tiles on the church?s roof will be replaced with identical ones made by the same manufacturer, Zsolnay, and some 6,000 square metres of carved stone surface will be refurbished. The church will be rewired and new lighting will be installed. The organ will be rebuilt, and a special pendulum will be constructed for the church tower to prevent it from swaying in the wind.
The project will start in April and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2010. It will be completed by Reneszánsz Kőfaragó, which was in charge of renovating the exterior of the Parliament Building, and Magyar Építő, a well-known construction company. Both companies won the contract in a tender.
The original church at the site was built in the second half of the 13th century, then rebuilt in the 14th and the 15th centuries. During the reign of King Mathias (1458-1490), significant enhancements were made to the church?s decoration as part of the king?s large-scale development of the Buda palace.
