Wanderings: Basilica of Saint Steven, Pest

March 14, 2026

A good friend and I arrived early afternoon at Budapest (1). Hopping the bus to town, the Basilica of King St. Steven was our first stop. Named Vajk at birth, he took the name István (Steven) at his baptism, and soldified the Catholic faith in Hungary after his coronation on Christmas Day in the year 1000. The Basilica prominently displays the King's hand in a reliquary on a side altar in the south side.

Like most of Pest (2), the building dates from the mid to late 1800s as Hungarians reasserted their national identify within the Habsburg empire. The iconography in the church features a dazzling display of gold mosaics depicting biblical scenes. We ascended to the observation deck on the Basilica's dome, enjoying panoramic views of the city, as the sun set over the Buda hills.

The Opera House (3) offered "Hazám, hazám, te mindenem." ("My homeland, my homeland, you mean everything to me)" tonight, a series of arias from Hungarian composers, such as Kodály and Bartok (4) to celebrate the national holiday coming up tomorrow. The singers were accompanied by a piano, and were interrupted by long-winded introductions by an M.C. (5). The concert ended with all the soloists singing what I assumed to be a well-known Hungarian tune, the men hitting their boots with their hands as the audience clapped along.

(1) We had planned a Balkan journey starting in Istanbul, then proceeding by rail though Bulgaria into Romania. The recent outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East and Iranian missiles over Turkish airspace induced us to pivot our plans to start in Hungary instead.

(2) Historically two cities, Buda, on the hillier west bank of the Danube, and Pest, on the flat east bank, formally merged in 1873. The districts retain their historic names and distinct characters.

(3) At the Opera House, a man heard us speaking English and asked if we could take a picture of him in the lobby. While he was an Italian from Tuscany, he had never been to the Opera before. His girlfriend is from Bellingham, Massachusetts (just a few towns away from my house) (a). She is staying in Tuscany to study wine making.

(a) In another unexpected reminder of home today, I encountered someone I knew at the Copenhagen Airport this morning.

(3) In Hungarian usage, the family name comes first, so for example, the composer Béla Bartok is known as Bartok Béla.

(4) Each time he began to talk, groups of people got up and left making a fair bit of noise on the wood floors of the balcony.