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A projekt az Európai Unió társfinanszírozásával, az Európa Terv keretében valósult meg
Debrecen: a throbbing city
Debrecen lies in the north-eastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, 220 kms east of Budapest. It is the administrative, economic, educational, scientific and cultural centre of Eastern Hungary and the capital of Hajdú-Bihar county. It has a population of about 205 000, second only to the country's capital. For centuries Debrecen was known as the "Calvinist Rome", since Catholics and members of other churches were not allowed to settle within the city walls. Due to its sister cities and partnership relations Debrecen has made its name known on three continents.
Brief history
Debrecen is the traditional economic and cultural centre of Eastern Hungary. In the 16th century Debrecen became the centre of the Reformed Church in Hungary and later it was called the "Calvinist Rome". The 17th century was the golden age of the city because it was the mediator between the three parts of the country: the part under Turkish occupation, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Principality of Transylvania. For short periods of time, it served twice as the capital of the country. Nowadays, with its population of approximately 200,000, it is the second largest city in Hungary.
The city of festivals
The major festival of Debrecen, the Flower Carnival, is organized every year on 20th of August. Over the decades, some 100 million flowers have been used to decorate 600 or so floats, which were seen, along with the tens of thousands of Hungarian and foreign performing participants, by millions of visitors. The Flower Carnival has recently grown into a week-long festival with events focusing on music, dance and flowers.Debrecen is also part of the larger spring and fall festivals held across Hungary. Each year, an international Jazz Festival is organized at the end of September, and the city is internationally famous for its biennial Béla Bartók Choir Competition, Beer Carnival, Wine Carnival and the International Military Band Festival.
In addition to the main events and festivals that have been attracting more and more visitors for years, the various Village Days, Spa Parties, exhibitions, equestrian and horse-herders’ shows, folklore programs, folklore art fairs are also popular.
The city of spas
Thermal water is one of the most important treasures in nature's pharmacy. Hungary is a country with countless baths, as well as one of the largest reserves of thermal and medicinal water in the world. The medicinal waters of our area were explored by geologist Ferenc Pávai-Vajna, who was hoping to find hydrocarbon derivatives but, instead, explored medicinal springs of high capacity and of high temperature in the area of Hajdúszoboszló, Debrecen and Karcag.The city's thermal spa was built in a beautiful environment, in the Great Forest of Debrecen, which was the country's first nature conservation area. Today the spa is part of the Aquaticum Debrecen Thermal and Wellness Hotel, offering not only thermal water of 63 degree Celsius but also 40 different treatments from mud treatment to effervescent bath to laser therapy, supported by the professional background provided by the nearby medical center.
The cultural centre of Eastern Hungary
Debrecen is one of the cultural and social centres of Hungary for almost half a century, and has been dedicated to establish and maintain a remarkable and outstanding cultural credo. Since 1538 the most marvellous minds of Hungarian culture and science learned in the famous Reformed College. The Museum of the College has an outstanding collection of 17 000 pieces and its library owns distinctive book rarities, while its collection of embroidery and goldsmith’s crafts also offers a unique experience.
The Kölcsey Convention Center is the largest such venue of the country outside Budapest, where many Hungarian and international stars have performed since its opening in 2006. Recent performers include Cesaria Evora, Chick Corea, or Jan Garbarek. The exhibition hall and foyer of the building are frequently used for large-scale art events, such as the exhibition of Francisco Goya, Hasegawa or William Blake.
Déri Museum, located in the heart of the city, is another outstanding storehouse of cultural and intellectual assets of Debrecen. Foremost among the attractions of the museum are the monumental paintings of the Christ-trilogy by the 19th century Hungarian artist, Mihály Munkácsy. The collection of the museum also includes Egyptian mummies, East-Asian artefacts, Oriental weapons, as well as many other interesting curiosities.
Modem, the new, 3-storey art gallery of the city, was the venue (after Florence and Tokyo) of the exhibition "The Real da Vinci", which attracted more than 160 thousand visitors.
The theatre life of the city is also very vibrant, as the two stone-built theatres of the city, the Csokonai Theater and the Vojtina Puppet Theater offer a cornucopia of programmes for the theatre-going audience. Nevertheless, a number of experimental, amateur and alternative theatre groups also shape the interesting cultural life of Debrecen, which usually offer plays and stage productions in several foreign languages.Surviving traditions
The town of Debrecen is situated in the intersection of particular ethnographic regions. The products of the craftsmen lived here were widely preferred and they had important part in the folk culture and folk art of the wider area. The local history part of the permanent exhibition of Déri Museum displays the rich collections of everyday articles of former citizens in Debrecen called “the Cívis” citizens.
Traditions are kept alive today by workshops in the so-called Tanner's House , which offers a glimpse into the secrets of cloak appliqué trimming, embroidery, bonelace making, pottery, blue-dying and many other crafts. The traditional Mihály Day's fair, organised twice a year, is a great opportunity to buy the works of craftsmen in the region.
Natural beauties
Debrecen is a unique city without mountains and rivers but its natural environment is very interesting. One of the main attractions and places of natural uniqueness in Hungary is the Hortobágy National Park, known as the "puszta", which lies just in the outskirts of Debrecen. This is the authentic Hungarian Plain without any elevations, with unique flora and fauna, natural phenomena (e.g., Fata Morgana), and ancient animal husbandry traditions. The region is unmatched in Europe whether we consider its natural endowments or its historic and ethnographic traditions. A very lovely part of Debrecen, a holiday resort known as Great Forest ("Nagyerdő"), offers wonderful recreational possibilities for the lovers of sports. The university campus is located right by the Great Forest, too.
Debrecen as educational centre
Debrecen is extremely proud of its centuries old traditions and heritage in education, that is why the city pays considerable attention to this public sector from lower to higher levels as well. As a result of this Debrecen is not only a regional and national, but an international centre of education, especially on higher levels. Several thousands of foreign students choose Debrecen as their educational destination year after year which hallmarks the traditionally high level of the various trainings and the well-established technical and scientific background supporting the institutional network. This network consists of almost 50 kindergartens, 40 elementary schools and 30 secondary schools, many of which are financed by the local government, though some are under ecclesiastical rule. At the same time the city also pays attention to children with special needs and those who require special treatments: two special institutions and three special student residences offering distinctive and differentiated educational programmes deal with these needs.
Being a traditional regional and cultural centre, Debrecen is devoted both to promoting education in different languages and to supporting talents as well. Therefore there are a number of bilingual schools and schools with special curriculum enhancing student performance.
Debrecen is also one of the regional centres for higher education with its more than 30 000 students in 15 different faculties. Besides the internationally renowned research centres and programmes of the medical and the scientific faculties other faculties also ensure a distinctively high level of training. At the end of 1914 the University of Debrecen was established on the separated faculties of Law, Theology, and Humanities earlier operating as organic parts of the Reformed College. The new campus, headed by the breath-taking main building from 1932, was later structurally and administratively divided during the middle of the 20th century and was united only in the year 2000. Since that moment, the University of Debrecen, one of the largest ones in the country, offers a variety of trainings from humanities to natural sciences, from musical education to economic training, from medical to agricultural training. This outstanding system of higher education is further enhanced by the internationally respected medical training for foreign students from all around the world.
International relations
Debrecen has a number of sister cities all around the world, e.g. Jyväskylä (Finland), Cattolica (Italy), Rishon Le Zion (Israel), New Brunswick (USA), Setúbal (Portugal), Lublin (Poland), Tongliao (China) and Klaipeda (Lithuania). The basis of cooperation is exchanging experiences in the realms of culture, administration and economy. Artists from our sister cities regularly perform at the Flower Carnival.
For more information visit www.debrecen.hu or www.iranydebrecen.hu.