Church cross reveals 176-year-old time capsule

The cross on top of Hungary’s largest church, the Esztergom Cathedral, has been hiding a 176-year-old time capsule that was only recovered during renovation work this year.

The sealed copper canister was inside the cross on the 100-meter dome, the highest in Hungary, which survived being bombed during World War II.

The container was also badly damaged by shrapnel but when they opened it, historians discovered documents in near-perfect condition relating to the cathedral’s construction.

Csaba Torok, director of the Cathedral’s Treasury, said the papers gave a rare glimpse of the time when the church was built from 1822 onwards.

The cylindrical capsule was placed in the cross in 1845 by Archbishop Jozsef Kopacsy and chief architect Jozsef Hild, who took over after his predecessor was murdered.

“Archbishop Kopacsy knew he would not be able to complete the construction in his lifetime, so when the cross was finished he wanted to leave inside an imprint of the memory of the builders and of that era,” Torok suggested.

The best moment was when they found documents: one depicting milestones in the construction and a book containing names of clergymen and parishes. “These were last touched by human hands when they were placed there 176 years ago, so somehow we felt a sudden connection in time.”

The Catholic cathedral was built on Castle Hill, where a church was first founded over a 1,000 years ago.