Construction History and Research of the Holy Trinity Parish Church in Szigetmonostor

Abstract

The church of Szigetmonostor, together with the parish building in front, and the late chanter house next to it, is the characteristic complex of its environment. Its plan with the middle tower façade solution is a classic example of Baroque church architecture of the eighteenth century. The most valuable part of the building is the late Baroque pulpit renovated while keeping its original appearance. Szigetmonostor – earlier Monostor – a municipality in Pest County on the Szentendre Island came into the possession of the Zichy family after the Turkish rule. In the 1730s, Ferenc Zichy put the tenure in pawn to Gábor Horányi, a servant judge in Pest County, who started greater developments here by building a castle (today the parish) and a church in the 1740s. The tower was built in front of the main façade a few years after the completion of the nave. The Vienna Court Chamber acquired the manor from the Zichy family in 1766 after a long lawsuit, also redeeming Monostor from the Horányi family. In 1774, the master masons Mihály János Hamon and Jakab Gföller were commissioned to survey the buildings of the manor, which came into the possession of the Crown from the Zichys. Their survey plans illustrate the church with the small teaching house and church garden next to it. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the church underwent several renewals and renovations and minor alterations that could be tracked with the help of records and Canonica Visitatios.