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On the northern side stands the Calvinist Great Church in Classical, style, which gained its final form between 1808 and 1826. The work was led by Ágoston Fischer, an architect from Kecskemét. The church gained approval of increasing the height of the originally separate tower in 1774. Then the oval red limestone plaque glorifying Maria Theresia and her son Joseph II, decorated with flowers and rocaillos (shells) and written in roman letters was placed above the entrance of the tower. The building in its final shape is one of the biggest Calvinist churches. Its double-storied gallery is assymmetrical; the galleries stand on the northern and on the two short sides of the nave. The windows of the long southern side make the inside of the church light enough. The assymmetrical spacce is covered by two big and two small pointed arches. Buttresses turned to the inside on the organ-loftless side release the horizontal pressure of the big arches. The outer buttresses were added to the listed building only later in 1891. The culpit is an excellent piece of art built in the style of the age of Louis XVI in France. It has a varnished surface, gilded edges, blueish-grey artificial marble column-body and vase-ornaments. As the acoustics of the church is excellent, organ concerts very often take place here. The organ was built by József Angster and his son, two masters from Pécs in1909. Among the equipment of the church, we can find different pieces of fine arts, such as tin lamps from 1713, 1753 and 1799, cans from 1753, 1836 and 1841, the glass of the Lord's table from 1774, the tablecloth of the Lord's table from 1819 and the chalice of the Lord's table from 1843. The Calvinist vestry and house built in 1888 close the northern side of the main square. Their Classic Ecclectic style matches the former atmosphere of the square. |
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The western side of Kossuth square is ruled by the dignified Neorenaissance building of the former County Hall. With its ornamented facade it is one of the most stately and most beautiful public buildings in the town. The representative edifice was built according to the plans of Endre Makay in 1882-83. Its projection facing the square and the decorated, carved, giant windows of the county council chamber on the first floor draw the attention. On the parapet of the projection the oval shield of the county with the statues of Justicia and Minerva in a flagholding shape form a timpanon-like composition. On the curves of the big windows we can see the allegorical women figures of the professions, from the right to the left: agriculture, domestic industry, sailing, hunting, trade and fishing. It houses the valuable documents of the Archive, whose most beautiful pieces can be seen in the permanent exhibition on the ground floor. In front of the main entrance stands the full-figured statue of Lajos Kossuth made by István Tóth. Previously the first artesian well of the town bored in 1885-86 stood in front of the County Hall. The well was made by the supervision of an engineer, Béla Zsigmondy. The multilevelled ornamental well with five statuettes was regarded an adorment of the town and was pulled down in 1934. Next to the County Hall stood the Central Calvinist School in Classical style built in 1803, the first multi-storied building of the town. It was pulled down in the mid 1920s, and to replace it József István Dobovszky planned a slightly decorated Ecclectical cornerhouse, which serves as a school today. |
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On the southern side stands the Town Hall built in 1910-11 according to the plans of Alajos Bohn. The two mansard roofed facades, which are 135 metres long altogether, are joined by a 37 metres tall corner turret with the entrance with oval windows and columns. Its curved main staircase bifurcates, while the spacious offices were built in a simple, modern style. Its main facade facing the square is decorated by the shield of Szentes made of colour majolica and a plaque remembering the manumission compensation in 1836. In the corridor on the first floor we can find the bust of Lajos Kossuth, which was made in 1898, and previously stood on the main square. Next to it stands the bust of Sándor Petõfi made by Antal Koncz (1884-1957), a local sculptor in 1923. In the general meeting room we can see the painted portraits of the former mayors of the town and the plaster model of the bust of the town-founder nobleman, Baron János György Harruckern. The bust planned for the main square was made by István Máté. The meeting rooms and offices are decorated with the paintings by native painters such as Sándor Halász Szabó, Ferenc Katona Kiss, Lajos Tokácsli, István Berkecz and others. As an addition to the Kossuth Square wing of the Town Hall, the Palace of the Szentes Savings Bank was built in 1928-29 to replace the former one-storey building of the bank. This mansard-roofed Ecclectical building with corner turrets built by Lajos Kozma was the first building of the town with a ferro-concrete skeleton. Its facade behind a trellis-work gate with "SzT" inicials facing the main square is decorated with a carved stone cartouche referring to the original function of the building. At present the Public Library, the Mezõ bank, the Printing House and smaller shops occupy it. |
The Art Nouveau style corner building of Petõfi Hotel including József Tóth Theatre was built in the town centre on the site of the former Zöldkoszorú Restaurant in 1898 according to the plans of Marcell Komor and Dezsõ Jakab. It is a significant piece of art with the fine sheet iron decorations of its gable cupolas, with its front ornaments of the arm of the town, the string-course court and drip-stone carvings with tracery. Its designers were Ödön Lechner's students and colleagues. Marcell Komor was an exceptionally knowledgable engineer. He is also known as the author of books on architecture. His pen-name was "Ezrey". Recently the bronze bust of József Tóth (1823-1870) made by Antal Koncz in 1923 was placed into a balcony-like curved brick niche over the main entrance. Previously the plaster model of the statue stood on the banister of the gallery. József Tóth's plaque can be seen under the main entrance of the theatre. An exhibition of the history of the theatre in the show-cases in the corridor including documents from the Archive and photos makes us remember the brighter past of the building. This building, which once the town was proud of, unfortunately, today is almost in ruins. Although the fact that its new owners plan to restore it into its old form and function gives reason for hope. |
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A little further away stands the Neo-gothic Evangelist Church (9 Kossuth Street) of shaped bricks built in 1905 according to the plans of Imre Francsek. It has beautiful sheet iron works on its gargoyles, buttresses cover by colourful glazed tiles and an impressive wooden gate with plant-like ornamental ironwork. Its windows are from colourful glass mosaics and the windows of the altar area depict the events of Jesus' life. Its snow-white altar is made of wood, and its altar picture (Jesus and the Samarian woman) was painted by László Hegedûs (1870-1911), who was born in Szentes. Its electrical organ has seven registers and its bells are 2 quintals. On the inner southern side of the nave the marble tablet of those Evangelists can be seen who fell during World War I. The tablet is framed with the Art Nouveau stone- cutting made by Antal Koncz in 1925. Sometime it had a decorated cast iron fence with a short brick base which will be restored soon. |
Several classicist, romantic and early ecclestic houses from the last century in the Sándor Petõfi Street (formerly Úri Street) are very important in the image of the town (no. 4., 5., 7-9., 11-14.). The classicist Pál Péter House (no. 9.) was built for a wine- merchant around 1830. It has a wagon-roofed cellar under its street wing. The Middle Class Home Museum, the local history collectionof the József Koszta Museum got place here. The collection includes relics of local history, applied and fine arts, history of music and literature, small scale industry and trade of agricultural towns. The permanent exhibition displays the relics of the middle class way of living in the 19-20th century such as the furniture of the assimilated Jewish family of Péter Pollácsek from the turn of the century, or the surgery and music-book collection of a doctor, Pál Ottokár Péter in seven rooms. In the cellar of the house temporary exhibitions and performances are organized. (Open every day from 13 till 17 o'clock, except for Monday. Tel: 316-678) |
In Bálint Kiss Street (formerly Templom Street), which starts from behind the church, has several protected buildings. The classicist Calvinist Parsonage built in 1836 (no. 2) gave shelter to Mihály Vörösmarty (a great Hungarian poet) during the years of the absolutism. Bálint Kiss (1772-1853), a Calvinist parson, whose name the street bears, was a polyhistor and a naturalist of his age. |
The smaller park of Queen Elizabeth Square is joined to Kossuth Square. Formerly it was called the Holy Trinity Square after the statue on the western side of the square, which was put there in 1886. The middle of the square is decorated by the WW I monument made by János Pásztor in 1926. On the southern side stands the Catholic Primary School, which was built in 1912 in Art Nouveau style. On the western side the building of the Town Court is linked to the Catholic parsonage by archades. Prince St. Imre Street, which has already been mentioned at the beginning of our sightseeing, ends here. |
