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

its architects among them, had close connections with the applied arts of Finland in the years following the turn of the century. The execution of the Fasor Calvinist Church can also be related to the work of the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950).

With its complex structure, the church is counted among Árkay's major works. The national characteristics on the inside as well as the outside of this centrally organised church bear close relationship to the Minor Church in Városmajor (City Manor), and the Church of Christ the King in Keleti Károly utca, two Catholic churches also designed by Árkay.

Luckily, when a fire-bomb was dropped on the church during the siege of Budapest in World War II, the fire was instantly put out, but the church also took another few hits. Flowever, the damage caused was repaired as early as 1945.

The Calvinist Church of Szilágyi Dezső tér

No. 3 Szilágyi Dezső tér, District I

At the assembly of the Pest-county diocese in 1883, the idea of establishing a congregation in Buda was formally put forward. After much ado, the Buda parish of the Calvinist church was formed in 1885. To conduct its official business, the parish rented a room in Dísz tér, but it soon came to an agreement with the Lutheran community that until it had its own church, the Calvinist congregation would be allowed to use the Lutheran church in the Castle District for the purposes of religious worship.

The same year, a nation-wide campaign was launched to raise funds for constructing the church. Nights at the opera, concerts and charitable social events were held for the purpose and a certain proportion of the proceeds of the lottery organised by the Journalists' Association, together with private donations, were also added to the fund. In 1899, the municipality allotted a plot on the bank of the Danube, in Fazekas tér, a square renamed in 1903 after Dezső Szilágyi, Flungary’s prime minister who had died five years earlier. It was free of charge on condition that within five years of the passing of the decree the construction of a monumental church without a parsonage be commenced upon the 880- square-yard plot. Of the four tenders submitted for the open competition announced with the deadline of 1 January 1892, the jury awarded the first prize to Samu Pecz, whose work was codenamed Pentagon.

Having pursued his studies in Pest and Stuttgart, Pecz (1854-1922) continued his training in Vienna for another two years, under the Danish professor

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