Pannonhalma

In 996 Prince Géza settled monks from Bohemia on the Sacred Mount of Pannonia. The monastery erected in honour of Saint Martin of Tours had become the eastern bridgehead of medieval European culture as the Prince intended. Even Saint Stephen (1000-1038), the first Hungarian king was a frequent guest within its walls.

The Benedictine monk's life is life in the community. The traditions of the Pannonhalma monastery are in many ways connected to both educational and pastoral work. At the centre of the monks’ life, however, we find the community to which they committed themselves. Today there are about fifty monks in Pannonhalma, who wish to fulfil their vocation by living a life of hope and peace within the framework of liturgy and work in community. Guided by their abbot, they seek to find the answers rooted in their tradition to problems and questions posed by today's life. At the same time they aim at finding the proper balance between prayer and labour and between intellectual and spiritual life.


Having been constructed in diverse styles over the course of many centuries, the buildings of the monastery preserve the messages of different ages, and yet still give the impression of a harmonious unity. The artefacts that can still be seen today obtain a unique radiance due to the fact that they are being used in accordance with their original function by a living monastic community.

Though the monastery is open to the public, there are nevertheless places where only the members of the monastic community are allowed to enter. Here everything seeks to serve the purpose that the one-and-a-half-thousand year old Benedictine way of life may still be nurtured by silence and prayer, and that monks may become more and more themselves and the brothers of the people.

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2008.10.10 11:55:59