Page 25 - Esztergom 2021

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p p p p p panorama of
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Today’s Esztergom was not developed from a single town.
At the end of the 19th century, the royal town merged three
neighbouring villages to form the united Esztergom. One of
the old villages is Szenttamás (Saint Thomas), a district with a

unique culture, style, and geography. The hill rising above the

city centre, with its charming narrow streets and its chapel that
dominates the view, is now an inseparable part of Esztergom.
Adjacent to Castle Hill, and with the same height, Szent Ta-

más Hill bears the name of Saint Thomas Becket, archbishop
of Canterbury, who studied together with Lukács Bánfi , arch-
bishop of Esztergom, in Paris. In the Middle Ages, a provostry
was established in this area, and the hill served as a fortress

during Turkish times. The building masters of the basilica set-
tled here in the 19th century; the present street image of the
district was formed back then. There is a beautiful panorama

of the city centre, the basilica, and the royal palace from Szent-
tamás. Its characteristic small white chapel can be reached
either from Kálvária (Calvary) Road along the two-hundred-
year-old Stations of the Cross, or by the Szent István (St.
Stephen) staircase, built in 1938.
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