Visiting The Catacombs

Last time I visited the catacombs was at Saint Denis, Paris. It was a very interesting experience and even though I lost all my photos, the images are printed in my brain, which is a very good thing.

Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. source

Catacombs are not on every corner, however, you can find some in major European cities, that date back to medieval times. Some are open to the public, while others are closed to keep them safe and guarantee eternal peace to those resting there.

In Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures), there are two places where you can find catacombs. One is close to the theater, where the tower of the Franciscan Church is. There was a Franciscan Church and monastery there, which, unfortunately got demolished 1971, so today there's only the tower. The catacombs are under the tower, but it's not open to the public.

The other place where you can see catacombs is under the Saint John the Baptist Church, that is situated at the upper end of the main square.

source

It's right in the city center, you can't miss it as its green towers are visible from everywhere.

This is the main entrance of the church.

Saint John the Baptist Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfântul Ioan Botezătorul, Hungarian: Keresztelő Szent János Plébánia) is a baroque, Catholic church in the city center of Târgu Mureș, Romania.

Transylvania fulfilled all the requirements for the development of this new architectural style by the beginning of the 18th century, when it became part of the Habsburg Empire. Ignatius of Loyola initiated a strong campaign to convert people back to Catholicism. Jesuit monks settled in the town in 1702 with the purpose of revitalizing the Catholic community. During the first years, they found lodging in the home of Boer Simon, but in 1704 managed to buy a plot of land near the Nagy Szabo house in order to build a church. In 1764 a bigger church was built because of an increase in the Catholic population.

The church was constructed based on the plans of the Jesuit Valentin Scherzer and was raised by constructor Konrad Hammer from Cluj. source

For a door and window fan, the main door looks pretty impressive. I'm not sure how old the door is, must have been replacing the old one, but it still the old style you see in the movies featuring medieval times.

If you paid attention to the door handle above, you could have seen it's not a usual one, so I took a photo of the lock from inside. This is indeed anything but a usual lock. I have no idea how old it could be, but it's definitely old.

Even though it has been renovated several times over the decades, centuries, the original style is still kept intact. As you can see, those doors still have the original frame, made of stone.

Catholic churches are closed for the public outside mass hours. You can still go in to pray, but only at the entrance. I was there at noon and there was a baptizing taking place, so I took a couple of photos from great distance to show you what the church looks like from inside.

The entrance to the catacombs is at the back of the church. The catacombs are not open, the only time you can visit the place is once a year, during the Night Of The Museums. Yesterday was the day for this event to take place and I used the occasion to visit the catacombs.

When I got there' there were only a few people waiting at the entrance, but when I got out, there was already a crowd gathering.

In this little park there is the bust of the martyr Bishop Áron Márton, inaugurated in 2000.

Next to the church there's the Deus Providebit Study House, owned by St. John the Baptist Parish.

The Catacombs

The place where the catacombs are was very narrow. It was not built for a large public as the purpose of it was to give the final rest place for nobles, professors, church people and others who had the social status to be buried there. Therefore, there was no much space that would have allowed me to find the best angle. The crowd also made my job more difficult, but I'm still grateful for being able to visit this historical place, that is testimony of Transylvania's past.

What I'm going to tell you now was told by the guide, so I'm going to quote it.

When the crypt was open, a number of bones were found laying on the ground. Those bones were collected and buried in one of the catacombs.

This was the entrance to the catacombs, with our guide explaining the history of the place.

Here you can read the details about the crypt and catacombs.

Archeologists made their best to restore the catacombs, but the damage was significant. Some of the catacombs suffered great damage.

A grave from 1839, which looks impeccable after all those years because it has a marble plate.

This was the way to the staircase leading to the eastern side of the nave, but it was closed.

A grave from 1820, which is now 203 years old.

Graves from 1797, 1800, 1840.

All the engraving was done manually, to make things easier, as you can see, they draw a line, like in those notebooks kids are using in elementary school.

This is one of the graves that has only the year of the burial engraved on it, nothing more, so no one knows who was buried here.

The grave of Sára Farkas, wife of a judge, lived for 48 years, buried in 1783.

Helbrink was the name and that's all they know.

This is an outfit priests were wearing once. Our guide said it wasn't comfortable so they don't wear it anymore.

Another one from 1798. The date is engraved with Roman numbers at the bottom.

Another one from 1809.

Sándor Verzár's widow, Helena Márkovits, died in 1841.

This is all part of the city's history and I'm glad I was given an occasion to visit the place.

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