Evangelical Church in the Castle District (Budapest)
The Evangelical Church in the Castle District (Hungarian Budavári evangélikus templom ) is an Evangelical Lutheran church in the Hungarian capital Budapest . It is located at Táncsics Mihály utca 28 on the corner of Bécsi kapu tér in the castle district of District I and was built in 1895 according to plans by Mór Kallina .
history
The first Lutheran church in the then independent free royal city of Buda , which was largely inhabited by German-speaking residents, was built in 1847 in the classicist style at Place 17 of Honor ( Dísz tér ) in the southern part of the castle district. The construction was supported by the wife of the Palatine , Maria Dorothea von Württemberg . Before the Reformed community of Buda received its own church building, it was allowed to use the Lutheran church between 1885 and 1895.
When it was planned to build a new building for the Ministry of Defense on Dísz tér due to the upcoming Millennium celebrations, it was decided to relocate the Protestant church from here to Wiener-Tor-Platz ( Bécsi kapu tér ) in the north of the castle district . The Ministry of Defense architect, Mór Kallina, was also commissioned to build the new church and school building. At the request of the community, Kalina drew up a plan according to which the new church building should resemble the old one in shape and size as much as possible. It should also fit in as well as possible in the new environment. Due to great time pressure (the old church could not be demolished until the new one was completed; the Ministry of Defense, in turn, should be ready by the millennium 1896) Kallina built the church within a year. In 1894 he submitted the plans and in October 1895 the new church was consecrated.
During the Second World War Buda was besieged and the church was hit several times. The greatest damage was caused by a bomb that fell through the roof directly in front of the altar on December 31, 1944 and exploded there. At that time the altar with the picture Christ blesses the bread by Bertalan Székely , which still came from the old church, the organ, the candlesticks, windows, doors and benches were destroyed, the side galleries and pulpit collapsed. Reconstruction began in 1947, so that the church could be consecrated again on March 25, 1948. At that time the church received a new bell. However, the original condition was no longer restored and both the facade and the interior were only restored in a simplified manner. The rectory on Táncsics Mihály utca was renovated, the school building on the other side of the church was no longer built.
In the years 1957–1958 and 1969–1971 the outside of the church was renovated, at the beginning of the 1980s in the course of an overall reconstruction of the castle district again outside and inside. In the 1990s, a mosaic was moved from the facade to the interior and instead the inscription Erös vár a mi istenünk (A strong castle is our God) was placed above the gate. At the church there is an independent German-speaking congregation, which is looked after by a diaspora pastor from Germany and holds its services in the chapel which has been converted into a community room.
Church building
The main facade of the church, which is rounded towards the Bécsi kapu tér, is accentuated by two Corinthian half-columns on both sides of the main portal. Above the rectangular portal there is a lunette with a window and the inscription A strong castle is our god in Hungarian. The 36 meter high, baroque-style church tower has a clock. The originally existing four amphorae on the balustrade of the main cornice were not restored after 1945.
The interior of the church was greatly simplified after the war damage. The original stucco decorations of the capitals and the triumphal arch as well as the altar structure and the canopy pulpit are missing. In the choir today there is only an altar table with a large-format cross above it; behind it a round glass window was broken out. The cross, benches and parapets of the galleries were stained brown, the lights are sunk into the ceiling in three rows. The organ in the gallery was started by Zoltán Peskó in 1960 and completed by his son György in the 1970s. It is a monumental concert organ with three manuals, the pipes of which fill the entire north wall. Above the inner door of the main entrance is a mosaic by András Rác, which depicts the Holy Spirit as a dove.
literature
- Ferenc Matits: Protestant Churches. City Hall, Budapest 2003, ISBN 963-9170-74-7 , pp. 14-17
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 30 '16.7 " N , 19 ° 1' 50.7" E