The Reformed Great Church or Great Reformed Church in Debrecen ( hu, debreceni református nagytemplom) is located in the city of

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...

. It stands in the city centre, between Kossuth square and Kálvin square. It is the symbol of the

Protestant Church Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Hungary, and it is because of this church that Debrecen is sometimes referred to as " the Calvinist Rome". With a ground space of 1500 m² it is the largest Protestant church in Hungary. It also has the largest bell of all Hungarian Protestant churches. The Great Church was built between 1805 and 1824 in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

History

A church already stood here in the Middle Ages, but it burnt down. ''St. Andrew Church,'' a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

was built in its place between 1297 and 1311. Its area was about 16×46 meters. This church burnt down in 1564. In 1626 the already Protestant citizens of Debrecen started to build the St. Andrew Church again. With the support of

George I Rákóczi George I Rákóczi (8 June 1593 – 11 October 1648) was Prince of Transylvania from 1630 until his death in 1648. Prior to that, he was a leader of the Protestant faction in Hungary and a faithful supporter of Gabriel Bethlen, his predecessor ...

construction was finished in 1628. In 1640-1642 a tower was constructed and a large bell – about 300 kg, made of Austrian cannonballs – was placed in it. In 1707, during the freedom fight led by

Francis II Rákóczi Francis II Rákóczi ( hu, II. Rákóczi Ferenc, ; 27 March 1676 – 8 April 1735) was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince ( hu, fejedelem) of the Estates Confeder ...

the church suffered heavy damages from the imperial troops. The church burnt down on June 11, 1802, during the great fire which destroyed most of Debrecen. The construction of the Great Church began on April 8, 1805. It was designed by Mihály Péchy, but the plans were altered several times during the construction, causing much frustration to the builders. The original plan featured a church with a cross-shaped ground plan and a large dome, but the plan was discarded, mainly due to financial reasons. The western tower was finished by 1818, the eastern tower on August 6, 1821. The towers are 61 meters high. Originally a dome was planned to crown the building, this was not built, but when the construction was finished, the facade seemed unattractive with the large empty space between the towers, so in 1823/24 the facade was slightly modified, using the plans of Károly Rábl. The tower roofs feature Baroque elements. A nice panorama can be seen from the left (western) tower. The old ''Rákóczi'' bell, restored after the fire, is in this tower too.

Architecture

The main nave of the church is 55 m long and nearly 15 m wide, the transept is 38 m long and more than 14 m wide. Similar to other Protestant churches, the inside walls are painted white. The interior is 21 meters high. The church accommodates about 5000 people (with 3000 seats). The Great Church also has historical significance: during the

Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 or fully Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. Although t ...

Lajos Kossuth made the

Hungarian Declaration of Independence The Hungarian Declaration of Independence declared the independence of Hungary from the Habsburg monarchy during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It was presented to the National Assembly in closed session on 13 April 1849 by Lajos Kossuth, and ...

here on April 14, 1848, and was elected governor of the country here. The armchair in which he sat can be viewed in the church. The church has two

organs In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...

, one of them is in the southern part, above the main entrance. This is a new, electronic organ with resonance pipes, three manuals and 52 registers, built by Péter Albert in 1981. The older, Classical organ is behind the pulpit. It was built in 1838 by Jakob Deutschmann. It is a cabinet organ with 3 manuals and 43 registers.

External links

Photo gallery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Protestant Great Church Of Debrecen Debrecen Churches in Hungary Churches completed in 1824 19th-century Presbyterian churches Buildings and structures in Debrecen Tourist attractions in Hajdú-Bihar County Reformed Church in Hungary 19th-century churches in Hungary Classicist architecture