A History of Central Eastern Europe

BORTEMPLOM
Fasor utca
Unique to the town is the
BORTEMPLOM (literally, Wine
Church), a Neo-Gothic Church owned
by no denomination built across from
the train station in 1911. Under the
church is found the ALLAMI BORPINCE
(the state’s wine cellar) where up to
317,000 gallons of wine can be
stored! The building no longer serves
a religious function, only wine
storage. Testifying to the importance
of wine to the local economy, the
sanctuary is decorated with the seals
of the towns of the Tokaj-Hegyalja in
Zsolnay porcelain.
NAGYBOLDOGASSZONY (Church of Our Lady) Deák Ferenc utca 11-14
The origins of the monastery, built on this site in 1221, are unclear probably owing to its early
destruction by the Tartárs after just 2 decades. It was rebuilt under BELA IV, King of Hungary
who rededicated it to the medieval cult of SAINT GILES in 1258 whose monks remained for 3
centuries. A slow desertion by the monks started in 1530, continued with the 1566 burning by
Ottoman invaders, and was completed by 1578. The military governor of Zemplén megye, BARO
BEKÉNY ALAGHY MELCHIOR (BARON ALAGNY MELCHIOR BEKÉNY, 1587 - 1631) tore down the
remaining buildings in 1626. The monastic order was dissolved in 1786 by Habsburg EMPEROR
JOSEPH II. It then became a Piarist institution, Kalazanci Szent Józsefre (Saint Joseph
Calasanctius). KALAZANCI founded the first Catholic educational order which was called the
Poor Clerics of the Mother of God and known as the Piarists and/or the Paulites or Paulines.
Their goal was to provide free education for poor children. The order was recognized in 1617
and their monastery remains at the same site today. Parts of the Gothic church still remain as
does a chapel built by the anti-Habsburg nobleman FERENC RAKOCZI (1645 – 1676) after his
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