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Herzlich Wilkommen auf der Homepage der Miskolc-Avas Ev.-Reformierten Kirchengemeinde

Veranstaltungen

Sonntags

9:00 - Gottesdienst in der Gemeindehalle

10:30 - Gottesdienst in der Avas-Kirche

Adresse

3530 Miskolc, Papszer utca (straße) 14.

+36 30 730 2244

Außerhalb der Gottesdienste und Feierlichkeiten kann die Avas-Kirche nach Anmeldung besucht werden. Kontaktieren Sie uns hierzu unter folgender Telefonnummer: +36 30 730 2244

Wir freuen uns über Anmeldungen sowohl von Einzelpersonen als auch größeren Gruppen!

der Pastor

Pfarrerin HANGÓNÉ BIRTHA Melinda

Pfarrer HANGÓ István

Die Kirche Historie

Am nördlichen, 234 Meter hohen Plateau des Avas-Berges wurde am Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts die uralte reformierte Kirche gebaut. Sie ist nicht nur das schönste Baudenkmal der Stadt, sondern auch eine hervorragende Errichtung der spätgotischen Architektur. Während der Ausgrabungen im Jahre 1941 wurden unter dem Chor die Grundmauern einer Kapelle gefunden, die noch im 13. Jahrhundert gebaut wurde.

Den mündlichen Überlieferungen nach wurde sie vom Palatin Stefan, der Sohn vom Banus Ernye war, zur Verehrung des Schutzheiligen, Königs St, Stefan gebaut. Man begann sie in den sechziger Jahre des 13. Jahrhunderts zu bauen. Sie wurde im Jahre 1281 beendet, aber nach einpaar Jahre, im Jahre 1285 von dem Tataren demoliert. Während der Ausgrabungen waren auch die Spuren einer zweiten Kirche zum Vorschein gekommen. Das Schicksal dieser Kirche ist aber unbekannt. Die Ausgrabungen haben festgestellt, daß die robusten Säulen der heutigen Kirche auf das Fundament der zweiten Kirche gebaut wurden. Den neuzeitlichen Forschungen nach ist die - durch 5 Paar Pfeiler in 3 gewölbte Schiffe gegliederte - Hallenkirche im Jahre 1489 fertig geworden. Zu dieser Zeit wurde sie geweiht, wahrscheinlich mit der - an sie angebauten, zur Verehrung St. Marias Himmelfahrt gestiffteten - Kapelle zusammen.

In diesen Jahren diente die mit Planken umgebene Kirche der Bevölkerung und dem hierhergeretteten Getreide gegen die auf Streifzug gehenden türkischen Truppen zum Schutz.

Welcome to homepage of Miskolc-Avas Reformed Congregation

Sunday services

9.00 am - in the congregation hall

10.30 am - in the Avas Church

Address

3530 Miskolc, Papszer utca (street) 14.

+36 30 730 2244

How to visit us & parking

Beyond the regular worships and programs, the church can be visited only after registration.

Individuals and groups are also welcome to visit Avasi Reformated Church!

Parking fees

cars, vans 440HUF/h

Payment at the ticket automat at the Papszer street

Our Pastors

Rev. HANGÓNÉ BIRTHA Melinda

Rev. HANGÓ István

The history of church

Avas: The name Avas comes supposedly from the word „protect” (óv), forbidden, prohibited forest which was forbidden to exterminate, because it functioned as a pig feeding place in Miskolc, with plenty of oak and beech trees. The Avas hill is 234 metres high. The neanderthal men used this area as habitat and bury-ing place. Thousands of years later the residents of the agrarian Miskolc have escaped from flood, fire and heist to the wood of Avas. Through the years, the hill became more structured: on the northern part the Saint George Chapel and the Avasi Reformed Church stands with its’ graveyard, on the eastern side the Mindszenti Church and the calvary can be found, on the west the Jewish graveyard stands. The lower downhills have been covered by wineyards and fuit trees until the end of the XXth century.

Cellars: The first cellars appeared in the middle-ages, the first data have been found from the years of 1500. According to a document from the XIXth century: „….the number of cellars is about the same as the houses…” The entrances were opened on the northern side of the hill to ensure the optimal temperature of 6-12 ^oC. The cellars have always been a beloved meeting point for artists, gatherings, among others the famous Hungarian authors Ferenc Móra and Andor Leszih. The Golden age lasted until the previous century. Avas has also its own wine speciality called „fröccs” (7dl wine and 3dl sparkling water). Avas has its own spring, about 100metres from the cellars, it is called: „Jesus’ spring” and its’ water tastes like wine. This place is mentioned first in the years of 1600. There are more legends sticked to this spring, for example: Jesus drank here, he blessed it and since then wine springs out of it. If a sick person drinks this water, one glass a day thirteen days long, he recovers, etc….

Graveyard: The oldest graveyard of Miskolc, a historical monumental museum. It is situated next to the Avasi Reformed Church in a park of approximately 1 hectare and looks very similar to the graveyard in Kolozsvár with its monumental tombstones. Researchers found that it used to be a habitat in the Transitional Stone Age. The first written and dated tombstones are from the XVIIth century. At the beginning there were sarcophagus shaped stones, later standing, graven tombstones have been found. Many well known Hungarians rest here as Mr Szemere Bertalan, Mr Palóczy László, the Latabár family, Mr Tompa Mihaly’s father. Nowadays new parcel can’t be bought here. This graveyard is a preserved monumental heritage.

Bell tower: The tower was built in the XVIth century in 1557, according to history on the place of St Michael’s Chapel. In 1544 Miskolc has been destroyed by the Turkish army, the roof has been burnt down, so the church and the tower perished as well. In the crucial times the church couldn’t be rebuilt, so following the architectual style of the Middle Ages, a new bell tower has been built next to the church by heightening the walls of the chapel. The exceptional wide walls, three floors, plastered stone tower served as home for the three bells, which had not only religious, but also communicational use, warned for danger and called for meetings. The bell tower has peaked, hexagonal wooden shingle roof, under it a round corridor with bench, built of board, connected with pillars and from here the visitor has a nice view on Miskolc. This tower is one of the very first renessaince bell towers in Hungary from the XVIth century. The oak beams were constructed by Dutch shipwrights, still today original parts can be found among them. In 1770 the tower has been rebuilt, in 1972 after a significant reconstruction it has been consecrated again. From the northern part of the arcade upstairs a beautiful view opens to the city, from the southern part the panorama of the graveyard appears. This part of the tower also served as a fire guard in the XIXth century, the bells alerted the fire volunteers. The tower’s cellar was used as the home of the Dobos ringer dinasty, who used the ground in front of the tower as agricultural yard. On the loft of the tower the clockwork from the XVIIIth century can be found which is a valuable monumental peace of the bell tower technic of the century. From the beginning of the XXth century together with the Avasi viewpoint it is used as the symbol of Miskolc.

Chime: The first chime could be heard on the 1st May, 1941. Csury Ferenc, the famous tower clock maker from Szeged created this clock. It was made from dispensation and commemorates a married couple’s 50th wedding anniversary. A mechanical hammer construction sounds the rods, which are basically tuned up for the Westminster, Wittington and San Michele chimes. Now the melody of the Westminster Abbey can be heard from 6 to 22 o’clock in every quarter-hour. Always different parts of the four line melody can be heard, the four lines altogether are played in every whole hour. In the World War II. the clock got seriously damaged and got renewed in 1965. Since then, it is one of the symbols of Miskolc. In the National Theatre of Miskolc this melody is played in between the different acts.

Bells: The top floor of the clock tower is built especially for the bells. In the XVI-XVIIth century there were two bells, the bigger got broken in 1649, and got re-poured in Eperjes. Most of the times 5 bells were rung in the tower, and the subtitles on them commemorate the dispensation makers. These bells have been sacrificed for the raw material hunger of the World War I. Thanks to dispensations, the bell with a weight of 750 kilograms called „Nicholas” was rung in 1923 again, afterwards in 1926 another bell with 250 kilograms called „Johanka” came to alive thanks to another family’s donation. These two bells are perfectly synchronized and work with electric drive.

Avasi Reformed Church: This building is a significant monument of both Miskolc and Hungary. The church lies on the northern part of the Avas hill, in the centre of the city, standing as a guard above the bustling Miskolc, determinating the landscape and the image of the city. The ancient reformed church, the bell tower, the viewpoint and the graveyard altogether compose a monumental ensemble. The church with three vessels built in late gothic style is held to be one of the most significant monuments in Hungary. The religious building built on the southern part of the medieval Miskolc saved the city from the floods and conflagrations. The first parish church of our city has been used by the believers in the Calvinist church from the XVIth century. Today the Avasi Reformed Church has the regular worships here. The predecessor of the recent church built supposedly in the XIIIth century for Palatine Stephan (who saved King IV. Bela’s life and he also received the Diósgyőr Castle as a present). According to the legends, the church has been built by the Hussites who settled down in Borsod, but this theory is not justified. The church devoted for Saint Stepahn’s honour has been mentioned first in the papal tenth registry between 1332 and 1337. The archaeological excavations made in 1941 give an overview about the early building. Inside the recent church between the two colonnades, the rectangle shaped stone church with sacristy on the north has been built most likely in the second half of the XIIIth century. During the reign of King Louis the Great (1342-1382) Miskolc developed rapidly, the number of inhabitants rose which are proved by the enlargements of the building on the west.

King Sigismund (1368-1437) – according to a deed of gift from 1411 – has donated the church to the city. After the enlargement it became a late gothic, sanctum church hall with net-vault and with three vessels. At this time by demolishing the walls to the half, a completely new, much bigger building has been built. The octagonal sanctuary is held by 14 piers from outside. The enlarged space is illuminated by slender herring-bone windows, divided into three parts. The areas under the closures of the windows the stonemason masters decorated with traceries formed as flames and fish-bladders. The gates of the church are decorated with jamb stoneworks. On the northern and western part of the building rose-windows break the severity of the church. The archeologists found frescos and wall paintings, moreover, a gothic tower used to give home to the bells above the main entrance.

The citizens of Miskolc couldn’t enjoy for long their gorgeous church. Some decades later of finishing the reconstruction works of the church, in 1544 Mehmed Pasha of Buda and his army of 8000 soldiers attacked and destroyed Miskolc. They set on fire the church as well, so the tower inherited from the Roman age has tumbled down, breaking the gothic vaults of the three vessels, destructed the furnitures, the pictures and the paintings inside. The remains of the tower can be found on the attic and known as „truncated tower”. In the previous centuries, the archives and the art treasures have been stored in the rooms upstairs. In 1544, the Protestant perish has been established. At the same year, Dévai Bíró Mátyás – having the right of chosing freely the parishioner - has been called to Miskolc to fulfill the preacher position. We respect Dévai, the Fransiscan monk as the Hungarian Luther, the first Calvinist preacher who - not only in Miskolc, but on the whole northern part of Hungary - encouraged the worships to be held in Hungarian, and spread the theories of the Reformed Church. 20 years long, after the Turkish demolition, the walls of the church stood without roof, because the lady of the Diósgyőr Castle of that time, Borbála Fánchy, was a protestant oppositor, therefore she didnt give wood from her forests for the rebuilding. Thanks to the citizens of Miskolc the church has been rebuilt again in 1563-1569. At this time, according to the ideas and the aims of the Reformed Church, the interior became more puritan. The thin, carved pillars have been replaced by 5 pairs of robust square shaped, plastered columns. Onto these 12 metres high pillars wood cassette ceiling has been placed instead of gothic vaults. The tower has been rebuilt not on its original place, but as a bell tower separately. The walls of the church were built of mainly sandstone, the pillars, the carvings, the casements are made of limestone. Dutch carpenters have built the roof of redwood and oak, experts find it an excellent piece of carpentry. The renovation years of the wooden shingles are written under the roof above the sanctum, the first is from 1666 and the last one is from 1980.

In 1834 an earthquake shook the city, the thick walls have seriously ruptured, the reconstruction of these has ended after World War I.

On the western side of the church the small hall at the main entrance, under the organ loft and the truncated tower, divides the room into two. Both are bordered by the original, octagonal pillars. In the northern side some carved-stone remains and coffin-shaped sarcophagus can be found from the XVII-XVIIIth centuries. On the southern side, we find the stairs leading to the organ.

As in most cases of the Medieval churches, the inside hall has served as a burying place as well. During the acheological excavations, under the stone flooring, there were many crypts of famous families in Miskolc. Moreover, grave remains have been found from the XVI-XVIIIth centuries. Earlier these crypts became victims of the grave robberies, but the found remains were left at their places, a part of the objects and clothes have been taken to museums.

The funeral home is connected to the main building and called: cinterem. The name comes from the word cemeterium, restplace, the ancient name for cemetry. Probably served as successor of a funeral chapel, built in neogothic style on the northern side of the church. On the east, traces of two, two-level gothic vaults have been found. The gate opening to the inside is richly decorated with rosettes and lilies, the door’s wrought iron is from the XVth century. The additional building built in baroque style at the southern side of the church functions as funeral parlor nowadays. The entrances of both buildings are framed by donkey-back shaped, gothic styled stone carvings.

The length of the church is 42,5 m, the width is 19 m. The inner length is 35m, the inner width is 17 m.

The pulpit has been built from the donation of the Dőry Family in the XVIIIth century. A motive of a pelican feeding it’s sons with it’s blood crowns the baldachin in baroque style. All these are very popular biblical symbols of the Reformed Churches.

The bench with a roof behind the pulpit is called Moses-chair, the seat of the pastor in service.

Very valuable monument of the church is the renessaince king rest bench, built in the years of the 1400s and called stallum. Originally it belonged to the chapel of the Diósgyőr Castle, the crowned lion figure holding a flag with Anjou lilies refers to that. In the World War II. a bomb hit the building and many decoration parts of the stallum have fallen out. The stallum has been carved from oak and geometric pine inlay decorated. In Hungary this is the only piece of furniture that comes from the palaces of our Medieval kings and survived until today, therefore it is an exceptional unique value. The „black chair”, also called as back supporting bench, can be found in the southern vessel, was built in 1670. It used to function as a kind of penitential bench, the guilty member of the assembly had to wear a black cloak and had to stand up three or four times during the worship so his sins could have been forgiven in public. After these the assembly took him back, so he could escape from a more serious punishment, in some cases from the judge as well. Today there are 400 seats in the church, the gallery held by the pillars has remained unbuilt. On the southern part of the building, under the „truncated tower”, the older neogothic styled Angster organ stands which was built in 1895 from donation. It has 3180 wooden and metal pipes, the biggest pipe is 5,5 metres high, the smallest one is 6mm.

On the opposite side the younger organ from 2005 can be seen which was built by the Váradi and Son organ builders. This one is an instrument of 2 manuals, pedals with 25 registers. Very often there are organ concerts held in the church, because the two instruments synchronized music gives a special experience.