Református kistemplom, Debrecen

The Debrecen Reformed Church is located on Révész Square, on the southwest corner of Piac Street and Széchenyi Street in Debrecen. Originally built in Baroque style, the church was rebuilt in 1876 in neo-Romanesque style, which still defines its appearance today.

Until the 18th century, a simple wooden building stood on its site as a place of worship, originally called the "colour", later it became the "small church", as the predecessor of the "big" church, the present large church, was the Church of St Andrew. During the Rákóczi War of Independence, it was desecrated by the marching imperial troops as it was used as a stable. The wooden church burnt down in the fire of 1719.

The new stone church with 1600 seats was started with a donation from András Báthory Szabó, a citizen of the civitis. By 1726, the brass knob on the top of the tower was added. However, this church was also badly damaged in the fire of 1727, and it took four years to rebuild it.

In 1790, it was finished with a special, tasseled sofa. Its organ was built by István Kiszeli.

Its tower was originally covered by an onion-shaped helmet. In 1907, a huge windstorm damaged it. It was repaired, but the lowland winds soon destroyed it completely. The architects, 'yielding to the divine will', gave the tower a bastion-like design without a dome, hence its local name 'Bone Church'. There were several attempts to demolish it, but in 1902 the nationally renowned architect Frigyes Schulek, proposed to keep it and renovate it.

In 1860, the church was the site of a general assembly protesting against an imperial-royal decree banning self-government for Protestant churches. Here, for the first time since the War of Independence, the imperial power was forced to back down. According to tradition, the imperial envoy, standing before the assembly, declared: 'I forbid the assembly in the name of the King', to which Peter Balogh, the bishop of the city, calmly replied: 'I, in the name of God, will open it'.

The church was the first to introduce between the two world wars that, for reasons of hygiene, the communion wine is not distributed from a few large chalices; 150 small chalices are used and only the washed chalices are refilled.

The church