A domed Lutheran church on Régi Fóti út
The Lutheran Grand Church on Régi Fóti út in Budapest, Hungary, consecrated on December 21, 1941 by Bishop Sándor Kovács, was the first Lutheran church in Hungary built with a dome. Designed by György László and Jenő Szalkay and raised largely through congregation donations between 1936 and 1941, it survived the Second World War undamaged and still serves the Rákospalota Lutheran parish today.
A square-towered church rose for a growing parish
You're standing beside the Lutheran Grand Church, Rákospalota, known locally as the Evangélikus nagytemplom, still an active Lutheran parish church today. Four towers mark its square corners, the front two much taller than the back two, and a single dome covers almost the whole inside.
The parish behind it started small. Slovak Lutheran settlers moved onto this emptied, formerly Ottoman-held land during the Reformation, and for decades they had no church of their own. They rode out to Cinkota for services starting in 1749. Not until 1855 did they build their first church nearby, on a plot given by Count Károlyi. By 1871, the growing congregation had become fully independent.
Architects György László and Jenő Szalkay designed this larger building when the old church ran out of room. Builders laid its foundation stone in 1936 and finished five years later. Bishop Sándor Kovács consecrated it on December 21, 1941. World War II left it largely undamaged.
Kossuth's son served the congregation as superintendent
Ferenc Kossuth, son of the revolutionary Lajos Kossuth, served for a time as the congregation's church superintendent. By then Rákospalota had bought its own freedom from Count Károlyi, and the parish he once granted land to was running its own affairs.
Hungary's first domed Lutheran church took shape
The new church was Hungary's first domed Lutheran church. Builders poured it in reinforced concrete, but dressed the entrance in Doric columns to look older than it was. Inside, a painting by János Bak shows the Ascension above the altar. The organ moved over from the old 1855 church, rebuilt for its new home by Miklós Váradi. A small bell, cast in 1802 by Eberhard Henrik in Pest, still hangs here, older than the building itself. The pulpit carries Luther's rose and a line in gold letters promising that those who hear and keep God's word are blessed.
Workers reroofed the dome and replaced its windows
Workers reroofed the dome in new galvanized sheet metal and repainted its curved ceiling. They replaced every window in the ring of glass circling its base, the same windows that flood the interior with light through the lantern at the dome's peak.
A nearby synagogue reopened after eighty years closed
Three blocks from here, the Rákospalota Synagogue reopened on September 17, 2026, after eighty years shut and used as library storage. A new Torah scroll was placed inside and the Jerusalem Zorger Choir sang at the reconsecration.
Today the Grand Church still serves the Lutheran parish that built it, seating 300 with room for a hundred more standing. The six cases of local history along its walls have stood since the church turned fifty.
The domed Lutheran church still holds services for the Rákospalota parish that built it in 1941.
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