St. Peter and Paul Parish Church

It is one of the oldest church buildings in the Csíki/Ciuc Basin.
On the very spot of the St. Peter and Paul Parish Church in Csobotfalva/Cioboteni there was an Árpádian church about thousand years ago, rebuilt in Gothic style in the 15th century. It gained its present-day neo-baroque form between 1800 and 1817.

 

The new church was consecrated by Bishop Sándor Rudnay of Transylvania on Holy Trinity Sunday in 1817. The church was renovated in 1911 with colored windows and artistic murals. Under the arches, a high school teacher, Károly Brassai, painted the artistic pictures. The parish of Csíksomlyó/Șumuleu Ciuc has a very beautiful, imposing church building, designed by Archpriest Lajos Bálint.

 

Archaeological excavations were carried out in the church in several stages between 2002 and 2005, affecting the present-day northern chapel and the north-western half of the nave. During the excavations, foundation walls of three medieval periods were found, and the secondary remains of an even earlier stone church were identified. In 2013, a general renovation began.

 

The St. Peter and Paul Parish Church is one of the most significant places of the Pentecostal ceremony in Csíksomlyó/Șumuleu Ciuc. Hundreds of pilgrims, especially the Moldavian-Hungarian Csangos, spend the night there from Saturday to Sunday. On Pentecost Saturday afternoon, a “Csango mass” is held in the church, and the cross and flag of the Moldavian-Hungarians are also kept there.