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In an interview with Dehir.hu, the Managing Director of Campus Nonprofit Kft., the organizer’s of the Campus festival explained that due to the coronavirus epidemic, they have found themselves in a difficult situation. 

According to the festival director the decision of whether to proceed, postpone or cancel Campus Festival, scheduled for July 22-26, has not yet been made.  It will either be held at the original time or the festival will be canceled this year. A decision on this will be taken in early June at the latest. 

Péter Miklósvölgyi, managing director of Campus Nonprofit Kft., said that it is a question whether it will be possible to hold a mass event at the end of July, he said that since practically all major events are postponed until August or September because holding them now involves a great deal of risk. 

The movie entitled “Hungarian Wanderer” is a fictional comedy by the film director Gábor Herendi. The story is a Hungarian favorite telling the story about the seven Hungarian leaders of the invasion of the Carpathian Basin.

The story begins as the seven leaders wake up to find that the Hungarians armies have already left without them. They are forced to follow them and on arrival find that, not only their new homeland but their people as well. During their wanderings, they experience comic and tragicomic episodes of Hungarian history in forests and castles, inns and hotels, while fighting the Tartars, harem ladies, the Kurucs and the English footballers. 

April 16th marks the Day of Remembrance for the Hungarian Victims of the Holocaust. On this day in 1944 the Hungarian Holocaust began with the systematic sending of Hungarian Jews to the ghettos by the German occupation.

Ever since the arrival of Jewish merchants in Debrecen during the 1780s the community grew and settled, to such an extent that it was officially recognised in 1852.  Along with settlement and official status came the development of synagogues, Jewish schools along with a hospital and social welfare institutions.

The coronavirus has shaken the whole world, not only in terms of health but also economically. No sector has been impacted more than Tourism.

In a recent interview, Gábor Gődény, managing director of the VisitDebrecen, Debrecen’s Tourism Agency, talked about the impact of the coronavirus on both tourism and the economy and looked to the aftermath. He addressed the question of how quickly the city’s tourism industry can revive after the coronavirus.  

The local history exhibitions of the Péter Méliusz Juhász Library present the history of Debrecen over the last hundred years in a series of exhibitions. Due to the Coronavirus, the exhibitions can be viewed virtually only on the library’s website.

The exhibitions are organized as by The Méliusz Library within the framework of the TOP-6.9.2 Local Community Development in Debrecen 1/2/3 district.

The aim of the tender is to strengthen the local identity, help the establishment of the communities operating in the city district and to support their operation. The material of the exhibitions is selected from the documentary library of the local history collection and from the photos offered by the residents. Its goal is to get residents involved in the community life of their own part of the city.

Spring brings a burst of life, this year it does so regardless of the coronavirus that has locked humanity down. Newborns are arriving just like last year.

Following the birth of a Palawan leopard back in November 2018, the zoo welcomed another healthy leopard offspring at the end of February. The six-week-old male leopard is growing up very fast. His current weighs 660 g and just recently got his very first vaccine. In Hungary, members of this subspecies can only be found in Debrecen; and in a total of six zoos around the world. 

Debrecen Zoo along with three other European zoos helped to found a conservation breeding program for Palawan leopards (Prionailurus bengalensis heaneyi), with the aim of establishing a stable and genetically viable zoo population for future reintroduction to the wild. 

*UPDATE – ALL CELEBRATIONS ARE CANCELLED DUE TO COVID19 VIRUS*

The 11th of April is celebrated each year because this day marks the date when Debrecen was established as a Free Royal city and the independence it was granted.

Debrecen city was first documented in 1235, as Debrezun. Some believe that the name derives from the Turkic word “debresin”, while others say that it has Slavic origin and means ‘well-esteemed’. 

Debrecen thrived during the middle of the 13th century, becoming more important than some of the small villages of the area.  This was due to its location on important trading routes from East to West, as a result of which it became an important trading post.

One of the most characteristic architectural monuments of the City of Debrecen, is the Town Hall, a classicist building which stands on Piac street.

The building was home to elected city officials including the judiciary, and other officers of elected bodies. The Old town hall has been characterized by frugality for centuries. Until the 19th century, the city spent relatively little on “ordinary” (city-owned) houses and their decoration. 

The first town hall was built in 1531 by expansion from the construction of single-storey residential buildings over the centuries. In 1802, the city leaders wanted to build a new town hall, but due to lack of money, neither the plans ofMihály Péchy nor Ferenc Povolny was realized. 

Going North from the main square, towards the Main Railway Station, we cannot pass by Batthány Street without talking about some hidden gems and those lost to history. 

Batthány Street is named after Count Lajos Batthyány (1807-1849) who was the first Prime Minister of Hungary, he was born in Bratislava, Slovakia and was later executed by firing squad in Pest on 6 October 1849, the same day as the 13 Martyrs of Arad.

Until the middle of the 19th century,  the street was called Kis-Varga Street, and then  “Harmincados köz” (“thirtieth” in English). The name used to refer to the fact that the royal tax office was located there. 

There are many wonderful travel guides about Debrecen, but few about the important places of this city in the context of history. This article focuses on the history of the old town square of Debrecen.

Kossuth Square.

Over time Debrecen has changed, just like any city, as to how much is open to interpretation and your own perspective.  The tram lines have been a long term fixture of Kossuth Square, which was once a green oasis. Gardeners created plant islands in every corner of the square. 

Dominating the Kossuth Square is the most famous symbol of the city, the Reformed Great Church. Before it was built, in the 13th Century, St. Andrew Church stood in its place, built by the Dósa family.  Later in the 16th century, St. Andrew Church was destroyed by fire and rebuilt again in the gothic style.

While social distancing efforts are afoot to slow the global pandemic, nature’s seasons move on, oblivious to humanities woes. Nature lives and thrives!

Nothing proves this more than the streets and squares of Debrecen in full bloom.

With the sunshine and good weather, the revival of nature has begun. Spring has finally arrived! Magnolia and Golden Rain bushes bloom beautifully all over Debrecen, Hyacinths, Daffodils open and the trees are turning green.

The main street of Debrecen, known as Piac street, was once lined with trading houses, and it remained a centre of trade and for hundreds of years. The very first multi-floor dwellings of the town were built here. While the buildings are of simple construction, their facades have many beautiful decorations that deserve special attention.

One of these buildings is the Rickl House at No. 39-41 on Piac Street. The great-grandfather of the world-famous author Magda Szabó (from her mom’s side), József Rickl, was a German merchant, he built this classicist building for his renowned supermarket and his family in the 1820s.