Szany

Category: Szany

Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross

Category: Szany

The three-towered church defining the landscape of the village is unique and rare, a county relic belonging to the Győr-Moson-Sopron County Depository; it is the centre of the local Catholic life. The nave of the Baroque church was caused to be built by Ferenc Zichy, the bishop of Győr, in 1767. Bishop János Zalka (whose coat of arms can be seen above the entrance) had the tower made higher in 1867 and the building extended by side naves at the edges of which two smaller towers were erected. There are gable wings adorned by semi-circular frieze between the corner towers and the 46 metres high middle tower. Two nameplates commemorating the 140 victims of World War I are placed on the façade. The carved benches, the elaborately decorated altarpiece and the pulpit adorned by the figure of Saint Paul are 18th-century pieces. The altarpiece depicting “the Finding of the Holy Cross” was made by Ludwig Beyfuss in 1855. The church was painted in 1928 by József Pandúr and Antal Borsa, while the ceiling picture is a piece by István Takács made in 1962-63.

Category: Szany

Saint Anne’s Chapel

Category: Szany

According to legend, a poor man was gathering wood in the fields on a snowy day in January, praying to himself, when he heard an angel’s voice and saw a bright light. Following these he found a bloomed wild pear tree which was already hollow. They reported the wonderful event to the Pope according to whom “the pear tree is an example of Saint Anne, and its flowers symbolise the Virgin Mary”. A spring flowed from the foot of the tree which later fell down in a windstorm and this spring is used as a well even today. György Gitzy writes about the construction of the chapel which was erected in 1753 as follows: „the equipment, wood, lime, bricks necessary to the construction were carried out by teams of the least to the greatest of the village in their own hands, while they were praying and singing.” The chapel was extended in 1901 which was enriched by a glass window then depicting Saint Stephen and Mary, the Magna Domina Hungarorum. The devotional picture depicting Saint Anne, Saint Joachim and the young Virgin Mary are found in the sanctuary. The Neo-Gothic chapel which received a bell in 1920 and a Saint John statue in 1959 is a famous place of pilgrimage of the Rábaköz. The chapel hosts newer events in addition to the traditional Feast of Saint Anne and the May litanies (family days, county hunting day, the mass of Saint Hubertus).