New Visitor's Entrance for the Benedictine Archabbey - Pannonhalma

The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey is visited by thousands of tourists every year. For the monks it has become annoying, they feel that their privacy is disturbed by the visitors. For this reason, among the Archabbey’s long-term plans there was a special one: constructing a new entrance which helps the visitors get into the monastery and give them a new route to discover the place on their own with the help of an audio-guide system. This way the guests can see some parts of the place without a guide.

leading architects: Anikó PÁLL, Györgyi TÓTH, Tamás CZIGÁNY - CZITA Építész Iroda
year of design/construction: 2009-2011/2011-2013
photography: © Tamás Bujnovszky

The newly designed entrance is in the southeast part of the archabbey from which the visitors arrive at the square next to the Hóman bastion. Although the most important place for the arrival is still the reception building (Kosaras domb, Skardelli György, 2003), from where you can go along a forest path. So this new route evades the Benedictine High School, the south part of the monastery and the main entrance as well. It makes your arrival calmer, it is a really good way to get in.

This new entrance is modest not wanting to be a rival for the other buildings. At the arrival side there is a special door made of exposed concrete and metal. It is not an ostentatious one although it shows the entrance clearly. This door leads directly into the monastery’s walls that is why when entering you cannot feel the time itself. Its nicely-formed spaces make you concentrate and feel well-organized. Everything is about the building itself, it does not want to hide anything. You can even follow the building structure of the entrance watching the concrete formwork board. This place has some functions such as having an elevator and a staircase. It is important because of the 10.5- metre height difference. The visitors can see the old walls through a tunnel which lets the sunshine in.

This new entrance for the visitors is a very important place when you arrive, it shows itself clearly but after that it turns into a minor thing, and you will only focus on the great building of the Archabbey.

text/translation: Annamária TÓTH