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THE CALVINIST-REFORMED CHURCH
THE FRANCISCAN CHURCH
October 23, 2017
THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH C.A.
October 23, 2017THE CALVINIST-REFORMED CHURCH
When Austrians took over Transylvania, at the end of the seventeenth century, they encouraged the revival of Catholicism. St. Michael’s Cathedral (within the fortress) was given back to Catholics after it belonged to the Protestants for a century and a half. The Protestant community was thus left without a proper place of worship and, for a while, the sermons were celebrated in a „ruined and scanty” chapel. The current Reformed-Calvinist church was built on a land received with the consent of empress Maria Theresa between 1757-1761. It was in the Lower Town, in the central area considered as a Hungarian. The foundation years are mentioned in an inscription above the entrance on the northern facade of the bell tower, along with the names of the founders: county head and curator János Lázár and parson István Málnási.
The edifice’s plan is different from the other 18th-century churches in the city. It is a hall church with two semi-circular apses in the east and west, a bell tower on the northern side and a portico where access is made to the church.
Among the most remarkable elements that the church contains is the wooden pulpit with canopy, dated in 1765, the balustrade of the platform supporting the organ, adorned in the past with a spectacular painting only partially visible today, and the funeral monument of the city senator, János Bálint (1836).
Besides the church, there was a confessional school in 1895. There was also a cemetery nearby which was later covered by various edifices of the modern city. An important restoration of the edifice took place in 1860, and other major renovations took place in the 70-90s of the last century.
Scientific consultant: Tudor Roșu, PhD historian
Translation made by: Ciprian Dobra, PR expert
This place of worship is the only Calvinist-Reformed Church in Alba Iulia. It is located in the lower town, in the former neighbourhood of ethnic Hungarians, long considered the central part of the city.
The church was built between 1757-1761, on a land obtained with the consent of Empress Maria Theresa. The years of founding and the names of the founders appear on the inscription above the entrance to the church on the northern facade of the bell tower.
The edifice of modest dimensions was built with a different plan from the other eighteenth-century churches in Alba Iulia. It is a hall-type structure, made up of a rectangular vessel enclosed at the east and west ends with a semicircular apse. It also boasts a bell tower, located on its northern side, with a portico for accessing the church.
Both the interior and exterior of the church are quite austere, displaying few decorative elements beyond a wooden canopy pulpit (which dates back to 1765), a beautifully adorned and hand-painted banister (located on the platform supporting the pipe organ), and a funeral monument of János Bálint (a Senator of Alba Iulia who died in 1836).
The church has acquired its present appearance following a restoration project in 1860 and other major renovations between the 1970s and 1990s.
