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Originally, the building was not built to become a Primate’s residence and museum: it served from the end of the 17th century as a religious house for the Jesuits. After the dissolution of the order (1773), the house became the property of the Treasury, then that of the Archbishopric. Archbishop Sándor Rudnay, who transferred his seat from Nagyszombat (present-day Trnava, Slovakia) to Esztergom, temporarily set up his residence in this building in the Watertown. According to the plans of the monumental project on the Castle hill, the new Primate’s Palace would have formed one complex with the newly built cathedral, but because of the prolongation of the construction works and the various changes in the plans, the temporary situation was finalized. Accordingly, János Simor had the Watertown palace rebuilt and enlarged in 1881-1882 by the architect József Lippert, who was also responsible for the final construction phase of the Cathedral. The works of art in the Christian Museum, on exhibition already from 1875, were therefore first installed in the upper floor of the Cathedral Library, and were transferred the second floor of the Primate’s residence only after its rebuilding. The residence came to house, besides the Museum, also the Archiepiscopal Archives and the Simor Library. The enlargement of exhibition spaces is still in progress – new rooms for the Museum exhibition are now available in the building of the old seminary next to the Cathedral. (As part of the enlargement project, the Mindszenty Memorial Exhibition, which is in the care of the Museum, recently opened here.)
M.I.
