Pecs and Sveged, two cities in southwestern Hungary, are full of art and culture. Art Nouveau, a style that swept Europe between 1890 and 1910, was a reaction to industrialization. It reflects natural forms, with weaving staircases, flowers, and furniture and buildings that are rounded rather than square. Hungary, and Pecs and Sveged in particular, have many buildings in that style. On June 8, 2025, we found the nearest LDS church in Pecs, and then explored the area.
Hungary has 5,000 members of the Church, and a temple is being built in Budapest. The Pecs branch had thirty or forty members and guests, when we visited.
Our grandson, Bryce Flindt, just returned from a mission to Hungary. Both these missionaries remembered Bryce, and the fellow on the right did missionary work directly with Bryce. They assured us Bryce was a very good missionary!
After attending our own church, we checked out the Catholic cathedral nearby.
We heard that few Europeans attend Church regularly, but the cathedral was packed with people. We never learned whether there was a saint's day or other festival being celebrated.
Near the cathedral, we saw parts of the medieval wall that once ringed the city.
Like much of Hungary, Pecs spent hundreds of years under Ottoman occupation. This former mosque has been transformed into a Catholic parish church!
The arches and mosaics inside the church still look Muslim!
Pecs is a beautiful city, with a large town square burnished with monuments and beautiful buildings.
We joined the cafe crowd on this Sunday morning for a slice of Dobos torte, the national cake of Hungary.
We visited the Zsolnay Porcelain Museum, celebrating the colorful tiles, tile pictures, vases, and dinnerware produced since 1853 at Pecs' Zsolnay Factory.
A display at the museum showed many buildings across Hungary and Europe decorated with Zsolnay tiles. We saw some of those buildings in Budapest.
The recreation of several rooms of the Zsolnay family's house, from the late 1800s and early 1900s, reminded me that Hungary and Austria were intellectual hotbeds during that period. Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud lived in Central Europe during the late 1800s and early 1900s and their parlors may well have looked like this one.
We also visited a modern art museum in Pecs that reminded us that Hungary has bounced back from 50 years under Soviet rule. These pieces might not have been tolerated under Communism.
Sveged, farther south, had several buildings in Art Nouveau style.
We visited the Sveged art museum and then ate dinner at a cafe on the town square.
I love goulash and noodles, and I ordered it over and over while we were in Hungary.
And, of course, McDonald's cannot be escaped, even in the most remote corners of Hungary!
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