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THE RED CHURCH
For visitors of Arad, the building of the Protestant Church, known by the inhabitants as the
"Red Church", is worth visiting. The name comes from the material the building is made of - red brick.
The building of the church started in March 1905. The author of the project was the Arad architect
Ludovick Szantany. The entreprizer was Fich Lajos.
The building process lasted more than one year and was finally finished in September of 1906.
The dedication of the church occurred in 1906 in the presence of the bishop Sarany Samuel. It is built in
the Neogothic style. The main materials used in building the church were stone, brick and concrete.
The main tower is 46 m high. The altar is a work of sculpture in Neogothic style. The sculptor Örr
Gyorgy carved the pulpit from Kosice. The painting existing on the altar has as its theme "The pray
of Jesus in the Getziman garden" and was painted by I. Umlauf in 1848. It is possible that the
painting was brought from an older church.
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The visitor is impressed by the stained glass windows in Neogothic style by Polka Josef from Budapest.
At the inauguration, the church had three bells weighing 1590 kg: named D (Re sound); F (FA sound and
Sol sharp); and A (LA sound). During the First World War, the local authorities decided that the D
and A bells should be melted and the bronze used for bullets. The F bell was all that remained for
the church. The bells were moulded in the Hönig workshop of Arad, very famous for its works of bronze.
The electro-pneumatic organ of the church, a Wegensstein that was installed in 1927, was made in
Timisoara and cost 280 000 lei.
The clocks existing in the tower impress everybody; they have a central mechanism that transmits
an electric impulse to the four dials. In 1992, because of the archpriest Mozes Arpad - the present
bishop, the work of restoration began to the inner side and the exterior. During the restoration
process, the cross on the top of the tower was covered in gold.
Because of the special sound of the organ, the church houses concerts in cooperation with the
Philharmonic orchestra of Arad, which attract large audiences.
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