Today I explored the Gellért Hillin, a church built into a series of caves, also called “Saint Ivan’s Cave.”

The place is really amazing, though they charged 5 Euro to enter and I am always somewhat disappointed to have to pay to go into a church. But they did provide a headset which narrated to my ears a lot of interesting facts about the church, such as: St. Ivan was a hermit who lived inside the caves long ago before the church was built and he is rumored to have used the natural waters of a muddy lake near the cave to heal the sick.

The cave has served many functions over time; a poor family once called it home, it was used as a field hospital for the Nazi’s during WWII, it was raided by the Soviet Red Army in 1945 while it was functioning as a Catholic church and was sealed off while the church superiors were either condemned to death, or jailed.

A nun descends into the church

In 1989 as the Iron Curtain disintegrated, the wall that sealed off the cave was torn down and religious functions were reinstated.

The walls of the cave are all natural rock, which looks to have been painted with grey paint to seal in the dust. I wandered into the many rooms to find beautiful stained glass windows inlayed into the cave walls with beautiful colored light shining through from outside. Many of the rooms are filled with impressive, ornately carved pulpits, cabinets and art, clearly made by one person in an intricate and consistent style. 

One of the many pieces of detailed woodwork inside the church (Photo via Trip Advisor)

The church is quite enchanting, but I was discontented to see that they blocked off access soon after entering, showing just a few rooms of the church and leaving behind doors what I’m sure is a huge series of tunnels unseen to the public eye. It’s definitely worth a visit though~ If you are in Budapest, I recommend you go check it out!

One of the few blocked off entrances to the church