Monastery

Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, Boldva was most probably founded by King Béla III around 1170. The first known source that mentioned the area was written in 1203, and can also be found in the Pray Codex, which too contains the handwritten Funeral Sermon and Prayer (Halottibeszédéskönyörgés), one of the earliest known and surviving Hungarian texts. The original complex of Boldva (which included a round-church), and a Benedictine monastery) was desolated, roughly a hundred years after its foundation, in 1285. This was due to the second Mongol invasion of Hungary, which set ablaze the area. The church was later renovated in the 16^th century, and it became a parish church, which was given to the Calvinists in the middle of the 16^th century. Unfortunately in 1755, the church and the village burnt down, and only small minority were renovated to their original form. Nowadays, the reformed church of the village is present, but also the ruins of the cloister. The Ruins show a three-naved Romanesque basilica with two towers by the apse (looking towards the East), which is very rare in the Middle Ages - It is common to have the sanctuary/apse on the East side and the towers on the West. Inside one of the surviving tower walls, stairs can be seen. In addition, the ruins of the Benedictine monastery connect from the North, and ground plans of a round-church, once dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch) connects from the South-East side of the church.  Both were built around the same time (1175-1180)