The Primatial Basilica of the Assumption dominates the hill above the Danube with an authority that feels less architectural than geological. At 72 metres high and with a dome diameter that rivals St Peter's in Rome, it is Hungary's largest church and the seat of the country's most senior Catholic prelate. The Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest still holds the title of Prince Primate of Hungary, a dignity that dates back to the founding of the Hungarian state.
Construction on the current building began in 1822 on the ruins of a succession of earlier churches, all destroyed or damaged by invasion. The medieval coronation church, where Hungary's first kings were crowned, stood here before the Mongol invasion of 1241. The Ottomans used the site as a mosque after 1543. The 19th-century basilica is a confident neoclassical statement — its dome, faced in bright copper, is the landmark you see approaching Esztergom from any direction.
Inside, the most remarkable object is the Bakócz Chapel, incorporated into the north wall of the basilica and one of the finest surviving examples of Hungarian Renaissance architecture. It was built in 1507 by Archbishop Tamás Bakócz, disassembled stone by stone when the Ottomans threatened, and reassembled inside the new basilica. The treasury holds one of Hungary's richest collections of ecclesiastical gold and silverware. Climb to the cupola for the best view of the Danube Bend.