Hundreds of parishioners gathered for an anniversary service, music and a retrospective of a decade in which the Budapest Ideal Church has also hosted drug-prevention, human-rights, humanitarian and interfaith activities.
Brussels, Brussels, Belgium, 12th Aug 2026 — Celebrating 35 years of expansion in the country, and 10 since the grand opening of their Ideal Church, hundreds of Scientologists gathered at the Church of Scientology in Hungary on Vaci Road in Budapest to mark the anniversary, celebrating a decade that has combined religious life with an expanding programme of community, educational and interfaith activities.
The anniversary programme included a religious service, live music, a photographic and video retrospective of the past decade and a presentation of plans for the years ahead. Following the formal programme, participants remained at the church for informal conversations over traditional Hungarian food, recalling milestones in the development of the Scientology community since 1990 and specially since the ideal place of worship opened in 2016.
The Vaci Road church was formally dedicated on 23 July 2016 in Budapest’s District XIII. Mr David Miscavige, ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, officiated at the opening of the Budapest Church of Scientology, which brought together Scientologists and guests from Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries.
The six-storey building was established as an Ideal Org, the term used within Scientology for a church designed to accommodate the full range of religious services while also providing facilities for public information, educational initiatives and community programmes.
That opening represented an important stage in a Hungarian Scientology history extending back to the final years of the 1980s. Tamás Nagy encountered Scientology in Zurich, while Kornél Varga became acquainted with the religion in Stuttgart. After returning to Hungary and meeting one another, they helped organise the developing community, with the Church of Scientology formally established in Hungary in 1991.
Over the following decades, the community developed activities in different parts of the country (and surrounding countries), culminating in the establishment of the Vaci Road headquarters.
The building today combines spaces dedicated to Scientology religious training and spiritual counselling with classrooms, meeting areas, a chapel and an extensive public information centre.
On the ground floor, visitors can explore the “What Is Scientology?” audiovisual exhibition, containing hundreds of videos explaining the beliefs and practices of Scientology, the life and work of its founder L. Ron Hubbard, the development of the religion and the humanitarian and social initiatives supported by Scientologists.
The first floor contains facilities for studying Scientology approaches to everyday life, while additional floors accommodate ministerial training and auditing, the one-to-one spiritual counselling practised within Scientology. At the top of the building is the chapel, which can accommodate close to 300 people for religious services and other gatherings.
Since its opening, thousands of people have entered the Vaci Road building, including many visitors who are not Scientologists. Open-house events provide opportunities for members of the public to learn about the religion and its activities, while the premises have also hosted drug-prevention conferences, human-rights events, humanitarian meetings and Holocaust remembrance programmes.
At least twice each year, the church also organises interfaith dialogue gatherings designed to bring together representatives and members of different religious traditions, be it catholics, budhists, hindus, sijs, christians and the like. These meetings focus on shared values, peaceful coexistence and the principle that religious diversity can contribute positively to society when accompanied by mutual respect.
The community activities in Budapest form part of a broader range of humanitarian and social betterment programmes supported by Scientologists internationally and inspired by the work of L. Ron Hubbard.
These include the Truth About Drugs drug-prevention programme, which provides factual educational materials concerning commonly abused substances; Youth for Human Rights International and United for Human Rights, which promote awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; The Way to Happiness, a nonreligious common-sense guide to better living written by Hubbard; and the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, who provide practical assistance to individuals and communities in times of need.
Drug prevention has been one of the more visible areas of community engagement by Hungarian Scientologists. At the 2016 inauguration, retired Pest County Police Chief Brigadier General István Komáromi recalled cooperation associated with the first Drug-Free Hungary Marathon in 2002 and subsequent prevention activities that continue to reach towns and cities around the country.
Human-rights education has likewise formed part of the church’s community calendar, alongside programmes aimed at dialogue between religious and cultural groups.
The tenth anniversary was therefore not only an occasion to remember the opening of the building but also an opportunity to review how the Vaci Road church has developed as a religious home and as a meeting place for wider civic and social initiatives.
Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and United Nations, connected the Budapest anniversary with the wider role religious communities can play in European civic life.
“A church becomes part of the social fabric of a European city not only through its religious services, but through the relationships it builds with neighbours, civil society and people of other beliefs. Ten years of an open religious home in Budapest also means ten years of opportunities for dialogue, human-rights education, prevention and practical community service. Europe is strongest when freedom of religion or belief goes hand in hand with civic responsibility, respect for human dignity and peaceful cooperation among people with different convictions.”
The anniversary also brought attention back to the origins of the Hungarian community and to the role of L. Ron Hubbard in the development of Scientology.
Mr Hubbard founded Scientology in the early 1950s following his earlier work on Dianetics. His writings and recorded lectures form the theological and practical foundation of the religion, including its religious services and a number of programmes concerned with education, drug prevention, human rights and community assistance.
The concept of an Ideal Org also originates in Mr Hubbard’s vision of Scientology churches capable of providing the religion’s complete range of spiritual services while serving as points from which members can contribute to their surrounding communities, a vision that has been brought to reality thanks to the leadership of Mr David Miscavige..
The international Ideal Organization programme has since resulted in the establishment of major Scientology churches in cities across Europe and other regions of the world.
For the Budapest congregation, the tenth anniversary connected several generations of Hungarian Scientologists. Those involved in establishing Scientology in Hungary in the early 1990s have witnessed the community develop from relatively small groups into a permanent religious centre on one of Budapest’s principal urban corridors.
A newer generation now participates in the religious, educational and community programmes based there.
The celebration concluded with attention turning toward the next decade at Vaci Road, maintaining the building as a home for Scientology religious life while continuing to provide space for dialogue, education, humanitarian activity and encounters between people of different backgrounds and beliefs.
The Church of Scientology, its churches, missions, groups and members are present across the European continent. Scientology Europe reports a continent-wide presence through more than 140 churches, missions and affiliated groups in at least 27 European nations, alongside thousands of community-based social betterment and reform initiatives focused on education, prevention and neighbourhood-level support, inspired by the work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Within Europe’s diverse national frameworks for religion, the Church’s recognitions continue to expand, with administrative and judicial authorities in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany Slovakia and others, as well as the European Court of Human Rights, having addressed and acknowledged Scientology communities as protected by the national and international provisions of Freedom of Religion or belief.
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