The baroque jewel of Bicske is saved: the Holy Trinity Church has been completely renovated

The renovated Trinity Church was inaugurated on Sunday in the centre of Bicske. The parish received 550 million forints in state aid over four years, the Minister of State for Church and Nationality Relations of the Prime Minister's Office said before the event.

According to Miklós Soltész, failure to intervene architecturally threatened to either demolish the church tower or rebuild the church, making it one of the most complicated renovations to save the building.

According to the parish, the Holy Trinity Church building became unsafe in 2017 because the soil mechanical properties have changed over the past decades. The church's steeple has collapsed, the vaults have cracked and the foundations of the main walls and buttresses have sunk.

As reported by Bicskei TV reported, GNR Építő Kft. began the third phase of structural reinforcement of the church in August 2024.

Complex engineering solutions to stabilise the church

In the first phase, with the support of the Diocese of Székesfehérvár, the static reinforcement of the church tower was completed in 2021. The tilting of the tower stopped, but cracks continued to open up on the main walls and domes.

The next phase of the renovation involved the construction of a 350-tonne reinforced concrete shell structure, which connected the masonry arches and slab of the nave to the main walls. The foundation, however, could not support the weight of the walls.

Finally, the subsidence due to the ground conditions was stopped by injecting concrete, one metre under the walls and 4.5 metres wide at the abutments. The success of the intervention was verified by geodetic measurements.

Built on medieval foundations, it became a Baroque masterpiece

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Bicske is built on medieval foundations, started by the Catholics, completed by the Reformed and used by the two denominations until 1701. The church was consecrated in 1727 in honour of the Holy Trinity, and was given its final Baroque form between 1768-74.

The church is a dominant feature of the town centre, a single nave, baroque building with a frontal tower and a straight-ended sanctuary. Its main altarpiece is the Holy Trinity with the allegory of the Redemption, probably the work of the Austrian painter Maulbertsch, from the second half of the 18th century. The pulpit is carved in Baroque wood, with the Seed Bearer and the four Evangelists on the sides, and Moses with the burning bush on top.