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Országház utca 9. (No. 9 Országház Street)

Országház street from No. 7, 1920sSingle-storey house with medieval remains and a modern frontage. From the aspect of its building history it is the most thoroughly studied building in the Castle district. Originally two houses stood on this site with a narrow alley between them. The two building blocks were jointed at the beginning of the 15th century, when the alleyway was vaulted and turned into a gateway. The sedilia that remained in the southern sidewall of the gateway originate from this period. Another alteration followed the first one in the second half of the 15th century: this is when the main frontage as it looks today, as well as the northern row of sedilia of the gateway were constructed. In 1696 the house was rebuilt in Baroque style. Around 1875 it underwent a significant Eclectic modification: this time the main front was turned into a five bays long one which remained unchanged right until the siege in World War II. As a result of the siege certain elements of the medieval frontage came to light underneath the damaged plaster.

No. 9 Országház street, around 1940During building archaeology it was discovered that quoins were placed on both angles of the medieval building to the height of one floor. The gate on the ground floor used to be a segmental arched one with an elaborately moulded late-Gothic stone frame. Only one single large-size ceremonial hall was located on the first floor, referred to as the "palacium depictum" by written sources from the era. The gateway of the house preserves one of the richest collections of Gothic sedilia of the Castle district: six simple ones from the early Gothic era and eight traceried Late- Gothic samples and a pointed arched door. 

On the building's main frontage next to the gate, two red copper memorial tablets are placed, made by the Serbian sculptor, Nebojsa Mitric, in 1986. The upper tablet includes a relief portrait of a bearded man with a crown-like ornament above, and a Serbian language inscription. Under this on the smaller tablet both a Hungarian and a Serbian text of an unproven historical event can be read: 

THIS BUILDING WAS DONATED BY KING ZSIGMOND TO ISTVAN LAZAREVIC, HIS ALLY, THE MONARCH OF SERBIA (1389-1427).

Gates of No. 9 Országház street, end of 1960s

Gothic sitting niches in No. 9 Országház street, 1970s

Inside of the medieval house under No. 9 Országház street, 1950s