Church of Scientology Budapest, Hungary Tour

View the Budapest, Hungary grand opening video and read about the event at bit.ly/Budapest...
Budapest’s Ideal Scientology Church opened July 23, 2016, to mark a milestone for spiritual freedom in Hungary.
Already there are epic tales about Scientology in Hungary-a country that for centuries has cherished its myths and histories. In the last days of the 1980s and the dawning of the 1990s, totalitarian, atheistic Communism receded from Eastern Europe, much of Asia and Russia. Long starved for spirituality, Hungarians-like all people who had suffered under the Soviet commissars-quickly sought truth and religion. In 1988, a single copy of L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health pierced the iron curtain and a movement was born.
Now, some 25 years after first planting the Scientology banner in Budapest, the religion opened an Ideal Church of Scientology Organization, in the historic city. The Budapest Ideal Org is the 52nd Ideal Org that has opened since 2003, and with an accelerating pace of inaugurations, another 50 are already in the making.
“It is said the whole world knows your city as a capital of freedom,” said Scientology’s ecclesiastical leader, David Miscavige, in an address to some 3,500 Scientologists and friends at the July 23 opening of the Budapest Ideal Church. “Your fight to be free translates into every known language on Earth. It is also said that whenever people yearn for liberty, they become ‘citizens of Hungary.’”
As a country more or less situated in the middle of everywhere, Hungary has had its share of visitors. Nomads from the east a thousand years ago founded a kingdom and crowned King Stephen I. Then came Mongols and Ottomans, the Hapsburg Austrians, Germans and Russians. There have been wars and great upheavals, tremendous cultural surges and marvelous music, and don’t forget the cuisine. Even spicing history up in the 15th Century, a gent named Vlad (AKA Dracula) was sharpening his canines in the Transylvanian corner of Hungary.
So, as eddies and floods of civilization washed across Hungary, a great city was built on the hilly west side of the Danube, Buda. A slightly younger civic sibling, Pest, arose on plains on the east side of the great river. Budapest today is the cultural, political, and commercial hub of Hungary, and one of the great metropolises of Central and East Europe. Full of great, historic landmarks-Buda Castle, the Fisherman’s Bastion, the Chain Bridge, and so many more-a new emblem of liberty has been added to the city, the culmination of work by thousands of Scientologists.
Scientology’s Ideal Org stands amidst Budapest’s bustling heart. Located on one of the city’s main thoroughfares, Váci Road, in the thriving District XIII, the 64,000-square-foot Church is impossible to miss. Its 85-foot Scientology sign extends across its western elevation and announces its presence to the more than 100,000 commuters each day.
“A longing for spiritual independence” is how Mr. Miscavige described Hungary and the crowd at the opening. “Here stands what you built to proclaim it can be done-your new Ideal Church of Scientology of Budapest!”
The Church’s grand opening is the culmination of the religion’s rapid rise since its founding in Hungary a quarter century ago. In fact more than 33 missions now dot the Hungarian landscape and beyond into neighboring countries of Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. And representatives from each were among the 3,500 Scientologists and guests present at the grand opening ceremony.
Chief among the attendees were leading lights of Hungarian society welcoming the Church to its new home: Dr. István Komáromi, Brigadier General, Police Chief of Pest County Ret.; Dr. Ildikó Hekáné Szondi, Vice-Chair for Culture, Education, Tourism and Youth, City of Szeged; Ms. Ágnes Debreceni, Board Member, Gárdonyi Education Foundation of Hungary; and nationally renowned novelist Mr. István Nemere.
“It was 15 years ago when you first reached out to me. You wanted to run a marathon across Hungary and wake up our country to drugs,” Dr. Komáromi told the crowd. “And so together we launched the first Drug-Free Hungary Marathon in March 2002. And since that time you have swept this nation with our message. Reaching more than 400 towns and cities. Distributing over two million anti-drug booklets. And inspiring the youth of an entire nation to live drug-free lives.”
Ms. Debreceni described how Applied Scholastics, utilizing L. Ron Hubbard’s Study Technology, was transforming the education landscape. “Shortly after beginning my career I encountered problems in educating my students. Many kids were labeled ‘problematic’ or diagnosed with ‘learning difficulties.’ It’s heartbreaking for an educator to see these problems and not have the tools to help. Yet, in this accumulating darkness there are still people working, people bringing hope; unwilling to give up. And I met those people at Applied Scholastics Hungary.”

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Sounds like David is narrating.