After eight years of silence, Pécs' iconic attraction will be heard again on Saturday

The bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of Candlemas, known as the mosque, located in the main square of Pécs, has not been in operation since 2017 because there were no funds available to repair the electronics that control the movement of the tower. However, in the autumn, specialists got to work and modernised the control system and lift of the hydraulic system that moves the bells, as well as the motors that move the bells, and the exterior of the tower was also refreshed.

Buildings in the storms of history

A Catholic church stood on the site of the mosque in the first third of the 13th century, but it was demolished by the Turks who occupied the city in the 1560s, and its stones were used by Gázi Kászim Pasha to build the predecessor of the mosque that can still be seen today. After the expulsion of the Turks, the church was taken over by the Jesuits and then the Cistercians, who consecrated it as a Christian church, demolished its crumbling minaret and erected a bell tower on its northern side. Between 1899 and 1906, the dome was given a neo-Renaissance style covering, the tower was raised and new bells were installed, according to the announcement. In 1939, at the same time as the reconstruction of Széchenyi Square, the building underwent a major renovation, restoring its Turkish features. During the work, archaeologist Gyula Gosztonyi also found the foundation stones of the former St. Bartholomew's Church. To ensure that the church would not be left without bells, two bells were suspended on a temporary iron frame above the eastern entrance to the building complex.

The bells have returned

In 1957, Abbot-Parish Priest Andor Kelemen had the bells removed with the intention of finding a more suitable place for them. However, the social conditions that arose after the revolution made it impossible to realise this intention. For many decades, the building had no bell tower, as the monument protection authority did not allow any construction that would change the view of Széchenyi Square. Finally, in the early 2000s, it was decided that instead of a tower, a separate bell tower was needed, and Zoltán Bachman, the Kossuth, Ybl and Prima Primissima award-winning architect of the University of Pécs, was commissioned to draw up the plans.

The lift raises the bell tower to a height of five storeys.

Following the official approval of the plans, a shaft was dug in the centre of the former sanctuary, which was bordered by 13th-century foundations. A lift was installed in the shaft, and the bell tower designed by the architect, consisting of three stainless steel pipes, was placed there. The bells, collectively known as the bells of St. Bartholomew, were placed on these pipes. The largest of the three bells is the Saint Maurus and Saint Bernard bell, weighing 290 kilograms. The middle bell, weighing 190 kilograms, was named after Saint Margaret of the Árpád dynasty, while the smallest, the Saint Paul death bell, weighs 90 kilograms. The bells were moved by electric motors that generated a magnetic field without any pulling devices. They were designed and built by clockmaker János Gulácsi. When the bells ring, the lift raises the bell tower to a height of thirteen metres – about five storeys high – and when the bells fall silent after two minutes, the mechanism lowers them back to five metres.

The bells ring again on Saturdays

The bells rang three times a day, at seven in the morning, at noon and at seven in the evening, until 2017, when the electronics controlling the tower structure malfunctioned. The ceremonial handover and episcopal blessing of the renovated bell tower will take place at half past four on Saturday afternoon, according to the diocese's announcement.