St. István’s Chapel, Badacsonytomaj

Architect: Tibor Jankovics
Text: András Krizsán
Photos: Tibor Zsitva

The chapel in Badacsonytomaj designed by Tibor Jankovics reflects a search for the interplay between human beings and the sacred. The venue, the Balaton Region north of the lake features seas of stones everywhere, spreading as far as the horizon. Thousands of stones cover the fields, arable lands, meadows, houses, churches and stables made of stone, just like the winepress structures on the southern slopes. Stone abutments, bastions and fences form the series of lines bordering vineyards here. Wounds of the landscape dating back to the 1960s seem to heal over, only the bare walls of the buildings of the former quarry and the miners’ colonies stand at the foot of the basalt quarry. However, the power of the building is not only fed by the sacred and clear qualities of the environment, but also by the raw simplicity of the chapel’s forms. Its exterior and concise architectural design evokes the surrounding landscape and the spectacle of the medieval monastery. It stands erect on the ground with its homogeneous, textural stone facework, clean raw cube and yet reaches for the skies. Its fascinating simplicity connects it to space and time. Entering the interior of the church, one experiences the manifestation of the liturgical function in a puritan spatial structure. Beneath the white chain vaulting against the light filtered through from the front the majestic altarpiece by Erzsébet Udvardi seems to be glowing with radiance.

Architect: Tibor Jankovics DLA – FORMA Zrt.
Fellow architect: Szabolcs Kurucz DLA – FORMA Zrt.
Lighting: Ferenc Haász
Landscape, garden design: Eszter Rácz
Geobiology: Péter Nagy
Textil works: Ildikó Csete textilművész
Main contractor: Tivadar Gyarmathy – BÁSTYA Kkt.
Client: Szent Imre Plébánia, Badacsonytomaj