bg Szeged

Reformed Palace

- Tisza Lajos Körút 39 -
The construction of the four-story building, which was built on behalf of the , was completed in 1909. The church commissioned the design of the construction to the Hungarian architect , one of the defining architects of the era. The building was inhabited by, among others, the zoologist and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, József Gelei, and the anthropologist, university professor, and doctor of biological sciences, Lajos Bartucz. József was born on August 20, 1885, in and finished his university studies in . In 1909, he became an assistant of , and between 1912 and 1913 he conducted zoological experiments at university in . In 1914, he became a private professor at the university. From 1919, he was for some time a teacher of a Unitarian gymnasium. From 1924 he taught at the University of Szeged, and from 1945 he was a professor in the medical faculty and leader of a biological institute in Szeged. In the periods between 1935 and 1936 and 1937 and 1938, he was rector of the university. József Gelei died on May 20, 1952, in , at the age of 66.
József Gelei
Lajos Bartucz was born on April 1, 1885, in the village of , and started his studies at the Piarist Gymnasium in . He obtained an anthropology diploma at the Royal University of Budapest in 1909. Already during his student years, he was an assistant at the same place, where in 1914 he reached the teaching rank of private professor. In 1921 he started working at the Hungarian National Museum, where between 1935 and 1940 he was the ethnographic director. He taught again at the university between 1932 and 1939. He was chairperson between 1940 and 1959 at the Science University of Szeged, but he also taught at the Budapest University between 1949 and 1959. He received his doctorate in 1952. Lajos Bartucz passed away on June 3, 1966, in Budapest, at the age of 81.

The building housed the headquarters of the parish of the Szeged Reformed Church, and a school operated there until 1953. Later on, part of it became the religious education department of the Reformed University of Religion in .
Lajos Bartucz somewhere between 1908 and 1912
The most eye-catching features of the building, which is built in the styles of Art Nouveau and Neo-Baroque, are the two mosaics, one of which predicts the mystery of plowing and sowing, while the other of harvest. The scaly sheet metal mansard roof of the building contains many dormers and garland wreaths. The roof with its lovely curvy shape in some places, is adorned with an motif, and supported by many embellished with . The cute little , which are placed underneath some of the third floor windows, are also embellished with festoons. The parts between the first and second floors are lavishly decorated with corbels, , and motifs. Above the entrance door that leads to the courtyard, you can see an stating the name of the building. The balustrade above it contains some , as well as two sculptural compositions predicting either a group of girls or boys.
An old postcard the shows the building and the Reformed Church