As part of the Cultural Heritage Days on September 18th, a street festival is being organised to celebrate Debrecen’s Civic Houses.
After the service in the Verestemplom at 10:00 a.m., from 11:30 a.m., István Puskás, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen responsible for culture, and Emese Bowkett-Balogh, founding member of the group “For the Civic houses” will give a welcome speech at the entrance of the church.
From 12:00 p.m. in the Verestemplom, Ildikó Bárdosi, folk singer, will give a short devotional talk with Veronika Tóth-Mihala, pastor of the Reformed parish of Debrecen – Kossuth Utca, followed by a presentation about the history of the church. A short film will also be shown about Jenor Haranghy, who created the unique painting of the church interior.
After the opening ceremony, from 12:30 pm, the Ort-Iki Puppet and Street Theatre will give a performance in Melius Square, and then take visitors on a tour of the event’s programme, along Kígyó utcá (Snake Street) to the courtyard of the Civic house at No. 34.
The church and Melius Square will be open to visitors throughout the event and the short film will be shown throughout the event at the Church. In addition there will be
- handicraft activities of the Folk Art Association of Debrecen and Hajdú-Bihar County
- Derce Művek handicraft bakery workshop
- Viktor Löki (Streets of Debrecen) with photos and postcards of the cívish houses
- Máté Horog’s (City-Legends.Com) alternative souvenirs and magic tricks of Debrecen
Children’s programmes:
- Introduction to the Future Building Workshop and Classroom: led by Beáta Szakács, civil engineer and engineering teacher, introduction to architecture and the shaping of space
- Andrea Bujdosóné Papp, University of Debrecen, Faculty of Child Education and Special Education: paper theatre stories, games, creation
- Hajdú-Bihar County Archives of the Hungarian National Archives, with the help of props bearing the characteristic features of the cívish houses, present their new archival-educational activity focusing on old crafts
- Children’s activity of the Debrecen Regional Transport Association (model railway) in connection with their office in the civic house at 60 Kossuth street
- During the programme you will have a look into the courtyards of some of the cívish houses, and several residents will be present.
- The Novell taproom is open again! In addition to the Melius Square, the permanent venue is the courtyard of the house at 55 Kígyó utcá. This old house used to be one of the town’s taverns, and from 1844 the town’s first kindergarten. The history of the house will be presented by local historian Péter Horváth from 2:00 p.m..
- In Méliusz Square, there are time-bound programmes:
- From 2:00 p.m. – János Térey: Boldogh House, Kétmalom Street. The Confessions of a Civic: interpreted by Kinga Újhelyi and Artúr Vranyecz
- From 3:00 p.m. introductory talk with the founders of the group “For the Civic Houses
- 4:00 p.m. round table discussion with residents, owners, and Ábel Kőszeghy, urban engineer
- From 5:00 p.m. the Debrecen Hajdú Dance Ensemble will perform and dance
During the event, a street exhibition of archive photos and local historical curiosities will recall the past of the area.
The aim of the event is to raise awareness of the value of our old houses, to learn about their history and the stories of the people who lived in them. We would like the public to get to know better the built heritage of Debrecen, the former Civic way of life. We believe that if we know our past, we can better understand our present. Our aim is to make the event a mobilising action to strengthen the citizens’ desire to preserve their cultural heritage. To put it a little more simply, we can say that we can only really love what we know well, and what we know and love well, we take care of.
The organisers reserve the right to change the programme. The current programme is available on the event’s Facebook event. The event is free of charge and registration is not required.
