Matits Ferenc: Protestant Churches - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2003)

niches terminating in rectangular or semicircular arches. Financial difficulties related to the inflation during the Napoleonic wars slowed down construction work, which is why the building was not roofed before 1805. Four windows were cut in the side front and the wooden structure of the barrel vault was covered with slates. Insufficient funds not only held back the pace of construction but also necessitated certain changes in the original design. When completed in 1808, the exterior appearance of the building differed from the original conception in two major points. Scrapped was the colonnaded portico and the tower had shrunk in size. The hall-like appearance of the uniform, rectangular interior was further accentuated by an articulated, ornamental cornice embellished with a wide frieze. There are rectangular fields of wall lying in the strap of wall above the cornice separating the ground floor from the upstairs area, and the spaces between the buttresses feature semicircular lunettes. Work on the interior decoration came to a halt in 1809 when the treasury appropriated the church for the purposes of a cloth workshop and warehouse for two years.

The high altar, whose structure is similar to that of the neo-Classical main entrance, was also designed by Pollack. Decorated with gilded stucco work, the altar is flanked by two different slender columns made of grey and bone- coloured marble and topped with richly embellished capitals. On the peak of the tympanum above the altar are the tablets of Moses and the similarly gilded Holy Writ, while on either side is an ornamental vase; inside the triangle is the eye motif of God the Father and the initials of his name in Hebrew. The altar- piece, by Franz Lochbihler, is a copy of Raphael's Tran&tjiguration in the Vatican. The gilded cherubim holding the communion table and the red marble baptismal font pay homage to the artistic talents of Lőrincz Dunaiszky (1784-1833). He and his associates also made the ornamentation of the pulpit to the right of the altar. The organ decorated with gilded carvings and a white wooden covering is the work of József Heródek. The church was consecrated on 2 June 1811.

As the congregation outgrew the church, a dual gallery was installed eight years after the consecration. Regrettably, this blocks out natural lighting. To improve the acoustics of the church, a pulpit crown was added to the furnishings.

When Palatine Joseph led Mary Dorothy, the Lutheran princess of Württemberg, to the altar in 1819, an ornamental oratory opposite the pulpit was made for the bride. Restored in 1828, the tower on the facade was equipped with a clockwork mechanism made by József Rauschmann, and the following year with master Henrik Eberhards three bells. Owing to its elevated physical position, the church weathered the flood of 1838 undamaged.

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