The renewed reformed church in Vedresábrány, Romania was opened on Sunday. The celebration was attended by Deputy State Secretary for National Policy Zsuzsanna Répás, who said that the church, which dates back to the Arpad-age, was saved from collapsing.

The Deputy State Secretary explained that the renewal of the church was all the more important considering its role as a place of worship for the local Hungarian congregation.  Zsuzsanna Répás pointed out that, following last year’s budget of 70 million forints, a larger sum of 115 million forints was allocated this year for the renewal of the architectural heritage in the Carpathian basin. Owing to the programme, more than a hundred churches outside the border of Hungary have been renewed so far.

The Deputy State Secretary stressed the importance of saving the treasures of the past, evidences of a thousand-year-old presence in the Carpathian basin. One can only build the future based on the past, she said.

The medieval historic church was renewed in the course of 2.5 years, with the contribution of the Teleki László Foundation, within the framework of the Programme for the Protection of the Heritage of the Carpathian Basin. The programme was launched by the first Orbán government in 1999, when a total of 1.2 billion forints was spent on protecting the heritage located outside the borders of Hungary. It was cancelled in 2006 by the government in power that year and was restarted in 2012, in a cooperation between the State Secretary’s Office of the Ministry of Human Resources, the State Secretary’s Office for National Policy of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, the Balassi Institute, and the Gyula Forster National Centre for Cultural Heritage Management.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)