St Stephen’s Basilica

St Stephen's Basilica tickets: which one to buy

The basic ticket covers the church, and adding the dome and the treasury costs only a little more, which makes the combined ticket the obvious buy. The dome is reached by lift or by 364 steps and ends on an external gallery at 65 metres with a full circle of Budapest, including the Parliament across the river. The treasury holds church plate and, in a small dark chapel off the nave, the Holy Right, the mummified right hand of King Stephen, which lights up for two minutes when you drop a coin in the box.

Organ and chamber concerts are held in the nave several evenings a week and are sold separately; they are aimed at visitors, the programmes are short and popular, and the setting does most of the work. Guided tours add commentary for two or three times the ticket. Nothing here requires booking far ahead except the best concert seats. Entry is free for prayer, and mass is celebrated daily.

Visiting St Stephen's Basilica: what to see

The basilica took fifty-four years to build, from 1851 to 1905, and the delay was spectacular: the dome collapsed in 1858 and everything had to come down and start again. Jozsef Hild began it in neoclassical style, Miklos Ybl finished it in neo-Renaissance, and the result is a Greek cross under a dome exactly 96 metres high, the same as the Parliament, a number that refers to the Magyar arrival in 896 and by city rule may not be exceeded.

The interior is dim, heavy with red marble and gilding, and lit by candle-coloured lamps. Above the high altar stands a white marble statue of King Stephen rather than a crucifix, which tells you what this church is for. The mosaics of the dome are by Karoly Lotz. The Holy Right is carried through the streets each year on 20 August, Hungary's national day, in a procession that ends here. Outside, the square in front is closed to traffic and full of cafe tables.

St Stephen's Basilica opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from early morning to evening, with shorter hours on Sundays when services take priority; the tourist route closes during mass. The dome keeps its own schedule, opening later and closing earlier, and it shuts in winter storms. Late afternoon is the best time to go up, when the light is on the Buda hills and the Parliament, and it is also when the terrace is fullest; the first hour after the dome opens is quieter and colder.

Budapest winters are grey and the interior is dark, so the nave photographs poorly from November to February. Dress modestly, with shoulders covered. Photography is allowed without flash. Allow forty minutes for the church and the treasury, an hour with the dome. The square outside is the setting for the Christmas market in December, one of the better ones in the city, which changes the whole approach to the building.