The Cathedral of the Assumption

The famous and admired baroque cathedral of Oradea was built by Bishop Paul Forgách in 1752. Bishop Forgách, a sophisticated art collector passionate about central-Italian baroque architecture, wanted to gift Oradea, with the help of Italian architect Giovanni Battista Ricca, with a magnificent cathedral reminiscent of the Roman churches Il Gesú and Sant ’Andrea della Valle. However, after the appointment of Pál Forgách as bishop of Vác in 1757, during the office of his successor, Ádám Patachich, and the vacancy following it, the constructions in Oradea took a different turn. The design and management of the works was taken over by Franz Anton Hillebrandt, a talented young architect of the Hungarian Chamber, previously rejected by Forgách, in 1761, who adapted the Italian-inspired cathedral to the Austrian classicist baroque tastes. He designed a spacious dome, a more modest, braid-style façade instead of the ornate Italian baroque exterior, changing the size and shape of the towers, the exterior layout of the nave resting on accentuated composite-headed pillars. Thus, the largest baroque cathedral in the Carpathian Basin became a peculiar mixture of the Italian Seicento and the Austrian Baroque. Following the medieval tradition of St. Ladislaus, the cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, was finally completed in 1780, and consecrated on June 25 by Count László Kollonitz. One of the largest baroque organs of contemporary Europe also came to Oradea as a generous donation from Maria Theresa. The 42-record instrument was completed in 1782 by the imperial and royal organ builder Johann Fridolin Festl. Today, the Cathedral of Oradea, the largest baroque church building ever built in historical Hungary, is today not only the church of the bishop of the Oradea diocese and the most visited tourist attraction in the city, but also the church of one of the city’s important parishes and the site of a rich pastoral work and liturgical life.