A church already stood here in the Middle Ages, but it burnt down.
St. Andrew Church, a
Gothic hall church was built in its place between 1297 and 1311. Its area was about 16×46 meters. This church burnt down in 1564. In 1626 the already Protestant citizens of Debrecen started to rebuild the St. Andrew Church. With the support of
George I Rákóczi reconstruction was finished in 1628. In 1640–1642 a tower was constructed and a large bell – about 300 kg, made of Austrian cannonballs – was placed in it. In 1707, during the freedom fight led by
Francis II Rákóczi the church suffered heavy damages from the imperial troops. The church burnt down on June 11, 1802, during a great fire which destroyed most of Debrecen. The construction of the Great Church began on April 8, 1805. It was designed by Mihály Péchy, but the plans were altered several times during the construction, causing much frustration to the builders. The original plan featured a church with a cross-shaped ground plan and a large dome, but the plan was discarded, mainly due to financial reasons. The western tower was finished by 1818, the eastern tower on August 6, 1821. The towers are 61 meters high. Originally a dome was planned to crown the building, this was not built, but when the construction was finished, the facade seemed unattractive with the large empty space between the towers, so in 1823/24 the facade was slightly modified, using the plans of
Károly Rábl. The tower roofs feature
Baroque elements. A nice panorama can be seen from the left (western) tower. The old
Rákóczi bell, restored after the fire, is in this tower too. During the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 Lajos Kossuth made the
Hungarian Declaration of Independence at the Great Church on April 14, 1848, and was elected governor of the country there as well. The armchair in which he sat can be viewed in the church. ==Architecture==