Monuments

The village’s Catholic Church was built by the Batthyány family, and was consecrated to St. Elizabeth in 1816.  The church, with its red cupola visible from far, is one of the best examples of Hungarian round churches.  It was built in a classicistic style: the free standing church in the middle covered by a cupola with the tower placed behind the altar across the entrance.

The building of the first church was completed in 1771.  This was a small chapel built by the villagers without any help from noblemen.  The building was completed under the leadership of József Guldán, a master mason from Siklós.  The workers of the village were led by Ferdinánd Jobst.  The chapel was consecrated by the local pastor, Károly Pritzelmajer.  In 1782 a small bell was cast in Pécs for the chapel, and in 1793 a larger bell was brought from Vienna.  Unfortunately, these two old bells can no longer be seen at the church.
With the growth of the population, the chapel became too small.  Therefore, at the beginning of the 19th century János Batthyány, a local nobleman, comissioned the building of the church in the classicistic style.  This was consecrated in the honor of St. Elizabeth in 1816 by Antal Juranics, the canon of Pécs.  The tin-covered beautiful round cupola can be seen from a distance.  The interior diameter of the round church is 13.3 m (44 ft) and its height is 18 m (59 ft).  The four gothic windows are 3 ft wide and 4 ft high.  In older times the main altar had two auxiliary altars as well.  Above the main altar there is a large painting depicting St. Elizabeth as she distributes alms.  Up inside the cupola there is a fresco showing a scene from Bethlehem.  A fresco of the Trinity decorates the cupola above the altar.  Each of the five symbols around the base of the cupola depicts an Evangelist.  The statue to the left of the altar is of the Madonna.  This was erected by the Blum family in gratitude for their son’s, a teacher, and his pupils escape from a ship explosion on the Danube.  The statue on the right of the altar is that of the child Jesus.  Above the main entrance there is the choir with an organ.  The main entrance opens to the street; the tower is behind the church facing east.
The tower stands 38 m (125 ft) tall; its cover is made of red painted tin.  This is where the two bells of the chapel were mounted, to which another bell, cast in Pécs, was added in 1844.  This latter bell is still in the tower.  It weighs 448 kg (988 lbs).  The two old bells were lowered during World War I and were melted for military purposes.  In 1926 the villagers bought another small bell in Pécs.  This weighs 64.5 kg (142 lbs), and was used as the school bell until WW II. 
There are two small rooms on the left and right of the tower.  One is the sacristy, the other leads to the staircase to the tower.
In 1958 the cupola’s red cover was renovated but it was painted gray.  In 1962 the roofing of the tower was replaced.
In 1961 the church was restored and painted.  The painting over the altar and the two frescoes were restored by Ernő Gebauer, an artist from Pécs.  The symbols were repainted by József Őry.  The side altars were torn down during the renovations.  The church was declared national historic monument in the 1980’s.

The Row of Cellars

The cellars of our cellar-row are protected as monuments of folk architecture.  The row of wine cellars arranged one above the other constitutes a treasure from settlement structure, agricultural history, and esthetical points of view.  The group of cellars built at the beginning of the 19th century appears to be uniform, but in reality it comprises different buildings reflecting the architectural styles of their rebuilding eras.  Next to the very simple buildings with perpendicular roofing, the dominant style, one can find cellars with cross vaults and pillared porches.

Village-scape

The integrity of the Schwabisch settler village’s original image has been preserved by the 1992 village ordinance regarding its architectural protection.  For the continuous preservation of local architectural values, in 2001 The Study on the Effects of Heritage Protection in Palkonya was completed which inventoried the protected houses and farm buildings.  The Study can be found and downloaded from our website’s Heritage Protection menu.