Kálvária Szoborcsoport

Ideal attraction near Lake Tata.

CALVARY SCULPTURE GROUP Antal Schweiger arrived in Tata from Holics near Bratislava in 1768. He and two of his colleagues entered into a lease agreement with the Esterházy family to operate the earthenware factory. Faience was a fashionable type of artistic pottery at the time. Schweiger worked in the factory as a patterner, a maker of ceramic sculptures. His figural models are considered to be outstanding masterpieces of faience sculpture in Hungary. Arriving in Tata, the master received the opportunity and commission from the manor to realize the small-scale sculptures in ceramics, small in size, in the form of large, public sculptures. In addition to the Calvary statue group, the statue of Mary on the market square, the statue of St. John of Nepomuk next to the castle and the English garden griffins are the most significant works still here. The sculptor (a sculptor in the terminology of the age) died in 1802, at the age of 74. The Calvary Sculpture Group is a multi-foundation, multi-shaped sculpture ensemble surrounded by a wall. The cross-trees of Christ and the two lattices are complemented by the figures of the broken Virgin, the evangelist John, and Magdalene the Repentant kneeling at the foot of the cross. The baroque statue carved from the limestone of Sóskút is now very worn and weathered due to environmental damage. Calvary, here as well as elsewhere in the custom and fashion of the age, is tied to liturgical and piety traditions that revive the cross and crucifixion of Christ. Stations were never made on a hillside. The former Marble Hill, then Szentiván Hill, was named Calvary Hill after the erection of a statue dominating the hill and the cityscape.

Beautifully maintained sculpture ensemble. It is located right next to the lookout tower with excellent views.