A ruin is all that remains of the 13th-century convent built by Béla IV, where his daughter, St Margaret (1242–71) lived. According to the story, the king promised to commit his daughter to a life of devotion in a nunnery if the Mongols were driven from the land. They were and she was – at nine years of age. A red-marble sepulchre cover surrounded by a wrought-iron grille marks her original resting place.
Canonised in 1943, St Margaret commands something of a cult following in Hungary. A short distance southeast of the sepulchre there’s a much-visited brick shrine with ex-votives thanking her for various favours and cures.
