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Reformed small church or Truncated Church (Csonkatemplom, Kistemplom) WS- other version

This is the oldest Reformed church in Debrecen. Since the mid 17th century there has always been an ecclesiastical building on this site. The 18th-century Baroque church was renovated in a neo-Romantic style in 1876.
Following many hardships in the 16th century the 17th-century church burnt down in the summer of 1719. In the spring of 1720 the foundations of the new church were laid onto oak grids because of the deep, swampy ground. In the same year the cross vaulting of this three-aisle church hall was completed. Construction of the tower also started in 1720 but the four-storey, onion domed steeple was finished only in 1726.
The masterly woodwork of the Rococo pulpit and the soundboard originates from 1790. The gallery on the north wing was built in the same year in order to use space more economically. Almost a hundred years later, in 1876, the church was reconstructed in a neo-Romanesque style according to a Romantic concept. Originally of a Baroque style, the church exterior is determined to this day by this 19th-century adaptation.
At the same time the stonewall around the church was pulled down and a main entrance cut into the tower from the Market street (Piac utca) side. Entering the nave by this porch, fifteen steps lead down to the hall thus giving an idea of the nearly two-metre difference in level of the surrounding streets, as compared to the level when the church nave was built. Also in 1876, the walls were strengthened from the outside with the help of buttresses. The onion dome was torn down by a 1909 tempest. After that the steeple's original shape was never restored but it was altered in the manner of a bastion, hence the name: Truncated Church.
The first public protest against Austrian imperial absolutism following the failure of the 1848-1849 freedom fight was voiced in this church on the 11th January 1860. A memorial tablet displayed on the wall commemorates this event.

Debrecen

For several hundred years Debrecen has been the natural centre of culture, economy and commerce in the Northern Great Plain region. Thousands of visitors come each year to this city which has a wealth of cultural relics and historic and ecclesiastic sights, as well as its festivals and spa. The medieval settlement was established at the meeting point of three regions; the Nyírség, the Hajdúság and the Hortobágy. The trade route connecting Transylvania with Upper Hungary (today Slovakia) and Poland crossed the town thus elevating it to significance. Due to conscious land purchasing policies Debrecen's territory was extended significantly during the 16th and 17th century and thus its border reached as far as the River Tisza. Based on aristocratic and religious values, the strict Calvinist leadership of the city always bore the interests of the populace in mind, efficiently protecting them. It is not by chance that Debrecen is the capital of Protestant theological education, a stronghold of the Hungarian Reformed community to this day. (Source: Vendégváró).