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Lyceum Church and Monastery, Pécs

The building was built by Paulite friars between 1741 and 1756 using the stones of a Turkish mosque. The plans were created by a Paulite friar, Máté Vépi. The late Baroques church was first dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The towers were added between 1778 and 1779. Following the 1786 suppression of the Paulite order the building was standing abandoned until 1832. Its furnishings were shared among other churches of the diocese. Bishop Ignác Szepessy started to use the building again, he established a school (a so-called Lyceum) in the monastery while he reopened the church in order to provide religious services for the youth. When the Elizabeth University moved to Pécs from Pozsony (Bratislava), the church was designated as a university church. Around 1930 the interior was repainted, these frescos are the works of the Pécs painter Ernő Gebauer. The Baroques building of the former Paulite monastery is adjoined to the church, a secondary school called Széchenyi Gimnázium is based here today. The church was returned to the care of the Paulite order in 1997.

Pécs

Pécs is one of the most important intellectual, spiritual, cultural and economic centres of Southern Transdanubia. Combined with its priceless heritage sites, its lively cultural scene, theatres and museums, and the surrounding holiday resorts make the town a popular tourist centre.
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county. Pécs is also the seat of Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs.
The city Sopianae was founded by Romans at the beginning of the 2nd century, on an area peopled by Celts and Pannoni tribes. By the 4th century it became the capital of Valeria province and a significant early Christian center. The early Christian necropolis is from this era which became an UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2000.
Its episcopate was founded in 1009 by Steven I, and the first university in Hungary was founded in Pécs in 1367 by Louis I the Great. (The largest university still resides in Pécs with about 34,000 students.) Pécs was formed into one of the cultural and arts center of the country by bishop Janus Pannonius, the great, Hungarian, humanist poet. Pécs has a rich heritage from the age of a 150 year long Ottoman occupation, like the mosque of Pasha Qasim the Victorious on Széchenyi square. (Source: vendégváró)