The Great Church of Saint Teresa of Avila in Theresatown, 2 Pethő Sándor street

Source: fortepan.hu

The small street between the Theresatown parish-church and the school is the Pethő Sándor street. Its name was Érsek after 1879, Labda after 1953 then its current name has stayed since 1985.

After the community of the parish grew out of the wooden chapel given over by Ferencné Schopek, the building of the church began in 1801 as per the plans of Fidél Kasselik in honor of the Holy Spirit. By 1809, the building is ready to be used. In 1811, Lőrinc Dunaiszky sculpted the statue of Saint Teresa for the facade of the church. The interior was done by the most famous architect of the era in our country, Mihály Pollack between 1824 and 1831. The steeple is the work of Miklós Ybl (1871). In 1822, the title of the listed church (1215 m2) was changed to Saint Teresa of Avila, ordered by Archbishop Sándor Rudnay. The picture of the high altar was painted by József Károly Schöfft at around 1828.

  
The interior of the church, which was designed by Mihály Pollack (left-most) architect
Source: Wikipedia, Facebook ("Avilai Nagy Szent Teréz Templom")

The altars are only finished in the 1830s, as per the plans of Pollack. During this time, in 1832, the first organ of the church is built by the Viennese organ-builder, Jakab Deutschmann. Only one facade plan remained of the organ, showing the expansion of the gallery at the time. The first gallery with the Baroque-style curve, which had been in the church for two decades and its traces can still be found above the entrance today, was changed to the straight-lined closing of nowadays.

  
Source: minden-ami-magyar.hu, Facebook ("Avilai Nagy Szent Teréz Templom")

The facade plan - though there is no proof of this - was most likely drawn up by Pollack, as well. If that is the case, this would be unique, but the elegant, tall proportions of the organ facade seems to corroborate this possibility, basically being the mirror image of the great altar on the opposite end. It also has a wide tympanum and four columns, creating a harmony with the main and side altars.

 
Source: foursquare.com, Facebook ("Avilai Nagy Szent Teréz Templom")

On 24th October 1888, after finishing the renovation and the interior furnishing (altar-candelabras, etc.) Archbishop János Simor consecrated the church again.

Source: avilaiterezplebania.hu

In 1890, the most notable organ-builder company of the country of the era, the Angster factory in Pécs built a new organ for the church. The elegant cupboard of the previous Deutschmann-organ was still here at the time, the new pipes were placed inside it, but quite a few of the old ones were reused in the new instrument after some touch-ups. This instrument must have had an incredible sound, but the overcrowded cupboard made it difficult to maintain and tune, so the church and the city - the latter as a patron financing most of the costs - already decided to have a new organ built in 1908. This time they had the next great organ-builder company of the country, the Rieger factory do the work, but this time they do not expand the old instrument, but build a completely new one, discarding the old.

  
Source: avilaiterezplebania.hu

In 1929 the Theresatown church, on the 120th anniversary of its construction, in 74 years got its fourth organ, rebuilding and expanding the Rieger-organ. This great organ is currently in the church.

The other, smaller Rieger organ got into the church in 2011. In its previous place, the parish of Dunakeszi, it became unneeded due to the building of a new great organ. However, considering that this instrument is a relic, the Relic Protection Office only approved the disassembly if it will be put together in a proper place. Since the Teresa church is also a listed building of downtown, the assembly inside the church needed careful planning, which fell on the shoulders of Tamás Tóth architect. The professional restoration was done by László Varga organ-builder, who took it to heart to perfectly reconstruct the instrument, which went way past to tasks in his contract. The results were worth it, however, since the wonderful sound of the almost 120 years old pipes were improved by the unique acoustics of the building, and “just” the 9 registers are able to fill the large interior of the church. It is also the excellent work of László Bagi wood restorer that the beautiful interior with the altars of Mihály Pollack was joined by a fitting company of this musical instrument in their aesthetics.

 
Source: Wikipedia

In 1962, the roof was greatly damaged, so four concrete pillars each were built in the walls on both sides of the church, and put a concrete ring on top, which holds up the roof. There was also an interior renovation between 1972 and 1982. The outer renovation scheduled for four years started in 1997. During the first year, the tower and the main facade was finished. After this, the crypt was built in multiple stages, combined with the underfloor heating in the church.

 
Source: Wikipedia, foursquare.com

The building has an urn cemetery in the crypt. Originally they had 5 bells, but the largest one is still missing from the tower. This was another victim of World War II. Its place is still there and they are planning to replace it.

 
Source: foursquare.com, Wikipedia

Sources: avilaiterezplebania.hu, Wikipedia