Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A short walk down Káptalan utca brings you to the lively
market
(Mon-Sat 8am-2pm)
selling flowers, fruit and vegetables. Pressing on along the road you come to the back of
Vác's
cathedral
. Chiefly impressive for its gigantic Corinthian columns, Migazzi's church
is a temple to self-esteem more than anything else. Its Neoclassical design by Isidore Cane-
vale was considered revolutionary in the 1770s, the style not becoming generally accepted in
Hungary until the following century. Migazzi himself took umbrage at one of the frescoes by
FranzAntonMaulbertsch,andordered
TheMeetingofMaryandElizabeth
,abovethealtar,to
be bricked over. His motives for this are unknown, but one theory is that it was because Mary
was depicted as being pregnant. The fresco was only discovered during restoration work in
1944. From the cathedral you can head along Múzeum utca to Géza király tér, the centre of
Vác in medieval times, where there's a Baroque
Franciscan church
with a magnificent or-
gan, pulpits and altars.
Along the waterfront
From the Franciscan church you can follow the road down to the
riversidepromenade
, Józ-
sef Attila sétány, where the townsfolk of Vác walk on summer weekends and evenings. The
northern stretch of the promenade, named after Liszt, runs past the
Round Tower
, the only
remnant of Vác's medieval fortifications.
The prison
Beyond the dock for ferries to Budapest and Esztergom rises the forbidding hulk of the
town's
prison
(
fegyház
). Ironically, the building was originally an academy for noble youths,
founded by Maria Theresa. Turned into a barracks in 1784 - you can still see part of the older
building peering awkwardly above the blank white walls of the prison - it began its penal ca-
reeracentury later,achieving infamy duringtheHorthyera,whentwoCommunists diedhere
afterbeingbeaten forgoingonhungerstrike toprotest against maltreatment. InOctober 1956
a mass escape occurred. Thrown into panic by reports from Budapest where their colleagues
were being “hunted down like animals, hung on trees, or just beaten to death by passers-by”,
the ÁVO guards mounted guns on the rooftop, fomenting rumours of the Uprising among
prisoners whose hopes had been raised by snatches of patriotic songs overheard from the
streets. A glimpse of national flags with the Soviet emblem cut from the centre provided the
spark: a guard was overpowered, locks were shot off, and the prisoners burst free.
Triumphal Arch
The
Triumphal Arch
(Kőkapu or Diadalív) flanking the prison was another venture by
Migazzi and his architect Canevale, occasioned by Maria Theresa's visit in 1764. Migazzi
initially planned theatrical facades to hide the town's dismal housing (perhaps inspired by
Potemkin's fake villages in Russia, created around the same time), but settled for the Neo-
classical arch, from which Habsburg heads grimace a stony welcome.
