TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Kapul of time a 176-year-old found in Hungary’s largest church, Esztergom Cathedral, during this year’s renovation work.
The sealed copper tube sits inside a cross in a 100 meter dome, the tallest cross in Hungary, which survived bombing during World War Two.
The container was also badly damaged by shrapnel but when people opened it, historians found documents in near perfect condition relating to the cathedral’s construction.
Quoted from Reuters, April 18, 2021, Csaba Torok, director of the Cathedral Treasury, said the document provided a rare picture of the time when the church was built from 1822 onwards.
The dome of Esztergom Cathedral is seen during a building renovation in Esztergom, Hungary, April 14, 2021. [REUTERS / Bernadett Szabo]
The cylindrical time capsule was placed on the cross in 1845 by Archbishop Jozsef Kopacsy and chief architect Jozsef Hild, who took over after his predecessor was assassinated.
“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 a memory trail of the builders and the era,” said Torok.
Among the important documents recovered from the time capsule were documents describing construction milestones and a book containing the names of the priest and parish cathedral church.
“This was the last time it was touched by a human hand when we were stationed there 176 years ago, so somehow we suddenly felt the connection of time to the past,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t find any coins from the period in the time capsule so nobody helped pay for the renovations,” he joked with a smile.
Csaba Torok, director of the Cathedral Treasury examines items from a time capsule found in Esztergom Cathedral, in Esztergom, Hungary, April 14, 2021.[REUTERS / Bernadett Szabo]
The Catholic cathedral is built on Castle Hill, where the church was first founded more than 1,000 years ago. Its iron dome was built in Vienna and carried in sections to the Danube by barge.
For his ordination in 1856, Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt composed mass. But the cathedral was still unfinished, with the main foyer and interior not completed until later in the 19th century.
New time capsules may be placed on the cross for future generations. But a copper cover time capsule will close on June 30, so they have to move quickly, said Torok.
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