Church of St Simeon and the Casket

A small baroque church on the eastern side of the old town that holds, inside a glass-walled chapel, one of the most extraordinary pieces of medieval European art: the silver-gilt sarcophagus of Saint Simeon. The chest, two metres long and worked in repoussé on every surface, depicts scenes from the saint's life and from the lives of the Hungarian royal family.

The church is normally open during daylight; visitors can usually walk in for free, though a donation is encouraged. The chest is illuminated and clearly visible from the nave; binoculars help with the detail.

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A story
The Chest of Saint Simeon is a 14th-century silver-gilt sarcophagus commissioned by Queen Elizabeth of Hungary in 1377-80 to hold the relics of the saint. It is one of the most important pieces of medieval goldsmithing in Europe, and shows the queen and her family on one of its sides — an extraordinarily early piece of personalised royal commissioning.

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