The basilica, the building of which was started by king Stephen, had been the most important and sanctified place of the medieval Hungarian government, right up to the Ottoman occupation (1543). Fifteen Hungarian kings had been crowned here (with King Stephan among them), and the crown, the royal treasury and archive were also kept here. The Turks had used it for storing gun powder, and at the siege of the town in 1601 the building exploded. Its stones were used up in the foundation of the bishop palace built in 1800-1801.

Excavations revealed most part of the basilica, which can now be seen as the open-air Medieval Ruin Garden. The sarcophagus of St Stephen can be seen here.<B