Showing 1-9 of 9 results
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Bishop's Palace
Maulbertsch frescoes in the upstairs Reception Hall at the Bishop's Palace, built in 1783 and south of the cathedral, miraculously survived the air raids, but are not usually open to the public. You can, however, admire the murals of Roman ruins and gods painted in 1784 by István Dorffmeister in the Sala Terrena on the ground floor.
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Garden of Ruins
Szombathely has some of the most important Roman ruins in Hungary, and many of them are on display in the so-called Garden of Ruins, containing a wealth of Savaria relics excavated here since 1938. Don't miss the beautiful mosaics of plants and geometrical designs on the floor of what was St Quirinus Basilica in the 4th century. There are also remains of Roman road markers, a customs house, shops and the medieval castle walls.
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Iseum
The Iseum, south of Fő tér, is part of a grand 2nd-century complex of two temples dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis by Roman legionnaires. When the smaller temple was excavated in the 1950s, the city decided to reconstruct it - with cement blocks. The result is grotesque, though it is said to be undergoing a facelift. The frieze on the sacrificial altar depicts Isis riding the dog Sirius.
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Savaria Museum
The Savaria Museum fronting a little park east of Mártírok tere, is worth a short look around. The ground floor is devoted to highly decorative but practical items carved by 19th-century shepherds to while away the hours; the cellar is full of Roman altars, stone torsos and blue-glass vials found at Savaria excavation sites. There's a local history exhibit on the 1st floor and a collection devoted to the Romanesque church at Ják.
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Smidt Museum
In a baroque mansion just south of the Bishop's Palace in Szombathely, the Smidt Museum contains the private collection of one Lajos Smidt, a pack-rat hospital superintendent who spent most of his adult life squirreling away antique weapons, furniture, fans, pipes, clocks, Roman coins and so on. None of it looks like it's worth very much, but the volume and zaniness of it all makes the museum worth a visit. (Keep an eye open for Franz Liszt's pocket watch.)
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synagogue
The lovely twin-towered Moorish building across the street from the Szombathely Gallery is the former synagogue designed in 1881 by the Viennese architect Ludwig Schöne. Today it houses a music school and the attached Béla Bartók Concert Hall. A plaque marks the spot from where '4228 of our Jewish brothers and sisters were deported to Auschwitz on 4 July 1944'.
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Szombathely Cathedral
Allied bombing in the final days of WWII did not spare the Zopf-style Szombathely Cathedral built in 1797. Designed by Melchior Hefele for Bishop Szily in 1791, the cathedral was once covered in stucco work and frescoes by Franz Anton Maulbertsch and supported by grand marble columns.
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Szombathely Gallery
The Szombathely Gallery overlooking the Iseum is one of the best modern art galleries in Hungary.
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Vas Museum Village
The Vas Museum Village, on the western bank of the fishing lake northwest of the Szombathely city centre, is an open-air museum with some 40 18th- and 19th-century porták (farmhouses) moved from more than two dozen villages in the Őrség region. They're arranged around a semicircular street, as was usual on the western border. The most interesting of these are the Croatian, German and 'fenced' houses.
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Showing 1-9 of 9 results
