Saint Martin’s Chapel –Mukacheve

Initially, Mukacheve was the fortress defending the royal forest of Bereg. The settlement became a market town (oppidum) in the 15th century; and by the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, it evolved to a township equalling Beregszász in size and importance.

Its church was mentioned for the first time in a register on the Papal Tenth in the first half of the 14th century.
However, only the sanctuary of this previously fortified, medieval parish church has been preserved. At the beginning of the 20th century, the town – arguing that the building was in a bad state – requested a demolition permit for the church. The actual demolition took place in 1904. In fact, the plan was to demolish the entire building, but considering its historical value the decision was changed. The sanctuary was kept and the National Commission of Monuments assumed the task of restoring this part.

This oriented church had a single, rectangular nave. A square-based tower built in the Middle Ages was connected to the nave and a small chapel was located on its northern side.
The sanctuary has double lancet windows spanned by archivolts. The coat of arms belonging to the Büdi family can be seen on the cornerstone of the archivolt spanning one of the windows.
The western wall of the previous sanctuary and the staircase tower on its northern end were built in 1907-1908 in neo-Gothic style.

The entrance to the sacristy with its lintel supported by a canopy on each side has been preserved inside the sanctuary, at the western end of its northern wall. One can also see the tabernacle made of stone and having carved surfaces. In the eastern part of the southern wall, one can see a sedilia subdivided into three parts.

A lattice vault supported by canopies covers the sanctuary. The canopies in the four eastern corners have a pyramidal shape and their sides are covered with blind tracery decorations. 
The nodes where the ribs of the lattice vault meet are decorated with various coats of arms, while the cornerstone is decorated with the face of a bearded person having long hair. Presumably, this motif depicts the head of Jesus Christ.

Such a solution for the lattice vault covering the sanctuary could have not been adopted before the mid-15th century. Furthermore, one might suspect that the sanctuary suffered modifications roughly between 1470 and 1500, or in the first half of the 16th century.

Taking into account the presence of the coat of arms belonging to the Büdi family, the sanctuary obtained its present form in the second quarter of the 16th century.