Assumption Parish Church

The first church in Ipolyság was built by the Premontres at the same time as the monastery was founded, in the first half of the 13th century. This Romanesque church stood in the immediate vicinity of the convent building. Despite being fortified, it was completely destroyed by the Turks in 1552. Today, only its gate remains. The current church, whose construction was completed in 1734, is in an architectural style that is on the border between Renaissance and Baroque. It has a single nave, closed by a polygonal sanctuary. The entrance, on the western side, has two bell towers with pointed pyramidal spires. The ceiling of the church nave is divided into three equal parts by so-called Prussian arches. ; The altarpiece depicts the patron saint of the church and the city, the Assumption, the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven. The painting is based on the work of the great Baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682), i.e. a copy of it. The two first side altars are 18th century Baroque works. Their images depict Saint Francis and Saint Joseph. The two side altars on the sides are 20th century works, with statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Lourdes. Near the altar of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are statues of Saint Stephen and Saint Anthony, and near the altar of Lourdes are statues of Saint Aloysius and Saint Teresa. The ceiling of the nave is decorated with separate frescoes. These depict three moments in the life of Christ: the birth, the crucifixion and the ascension. Above the windows of the nave are frescoes of the four evangelists and Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The frescoes above the windows of the sanctuary depict a pelican feeding its chicks with its own blood, and the objects of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The frescoes were painted in 1956 (C. Massányi, M. Staudt, F. Buday and J. Böhm). There are also two epitaphs (gravestones with inscriptions) in the church, in the crypt of which the superiors of the Premontrean order are buried. One of the gravestones is that of the former provost, Ferenc Fegyverneki. The year is missing from the gravestone. ; However, there is also a beautiful gravestone with a coat of arms marked with a year (1802) in the inner wall of the church, close to the side altar of Saint Joseph. This is that of Gedeon Tornallyai, who presumably rests in the crypt under the church, where the monks were also buried at one time. The church organ was made in the workshop of Gyula Guna in Prešov in 1937. At that time, the original gallery was also enlarged to accommodate the new organ. The II. During World War II, the church suffered enormous damage, the domes of the towers and the attic burned down. This damage was repaired during the major repairs of 1955-56.