Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2010 (22. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2010-01-08 / 1. szám
AMERICAN Hungarian Journal Handsome Pecs is Hungary’s first ever European cultural capital A hub for the dialogue between east and west - that’s what the attractive city of Pecs in southwestern Hungary aims to be when tourists start coming here in 2010 to view one of three locations designated as cultural capitals for a calendar year by the European Union. This self-styled “city without borders” aims to map out the wealth of cultural tradition in a region where Germans, Ottoman Tdrks and many others have left their mark down the centuries. Next year is certainly a fine time to visit Pecs which has gone to great lengths to show itself in the best possible light. Naturally, first impressions are important too and Pecs scores low here. The approaches to the city of 175,000 residents take motorists through a bleak quarter characterized by drab blocks of apartments. The highest building in the town has even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. The 24-storey monolith has the dubious distinction of being Europe’s tallest empty'tower block. The historic centre of town is a welcome contrast. Many prime examples of Turkish architecture have been renovated in recent years, the run-down parks have been given a much-needed makeover and public places have been spruced-up and made more attractive. Local travel guide Janos Habel usually starts his tour at Széchényi Square which is right in the centre of town. It is the site of the former Pasha Kasim Gazi mosque which was built in 1585 out of stones taken from the former Romanesque St Bertalan Cathedral erected in the 13th century. The building was later re-consecrated and serves today as the parish church for Catholic worshippers. Its distinctive green cupola dominates the square. The building was once topped by a minaret but this feature was removed when the Ttirks retreated and the cross has supplanted the crescent that once adorned the interior. Left over from Turkish times is a prayer alcove with Arabic inscriptions. Conceived as a symbol of the two religions reaching out toward each other, the most recent addition to the texts here is the first verse of the Koran in Arabic which was added in 1986. Széchényi Square underwent a transformation after the Turks left, Janos Habel explains. The bazaar was torn down and a column signifying the holy trinity was erected in place of the ritual purification baths. In the wake of the collapse of communism in 1989/90, many houses, such as the former savings banks or the royal courthouse, were restored to their former architectural glory. “Only the Nádor Hotel has remained empty,” said Habel. “Back in socialist times the coffee lounge on the ground floor was the last refuge of middle-class life in the whole town and it is sorely missed by many older residents.” The art nouveau fountain donated to the town by Hungarian porcelain manufacturer Zsolnay is often overlooked by visitors yet is well worth a visit. The heads of the water-spewing bulls feature an eosin glaze which causes them to shimmer in iridescent metallic hues. The colour of the water expelled changes, depending on the angle of the sun’s reflection. The story of eosin is told in the Zsolnay museum next door which displays many works of art from the ceramics factory founded by Vilmos Zsolnay. He developed the frost-resistant eosin process 150 years ago and it features on many art nouveau buildings in Hungary along with the fired, durable roof tiles known as pyrogranite. Large areas of the old works have been derelict for years yet the mood here is now more upbeat since the abandoned production halls are a key project to mark the cultural year. The aim is to create a cultural quarter with an industrial history theme park along with a centre for contemporary arts. A film studio for cartoons is due to start work here and will provide jobs for 300 people. “As with a number of other locations this ambitious project will probably not be completed until after 2010,” said Habel. Prior to that the site is scheduled to hold an exhibition devoted to the intensity of colour. The visitor centre at the early Christian burial necropolis of Celia Septichora close to the city centre has already opened to the public. “The excavated buildings which date back to the 4th century are a very special historical monument since they preserve a form of two-storey building seldom used for religious buildings in antiquity,” said Habel. “They also served as burial chambers and chapels.” Most notable among these is the Peter and Paul burial chamber found at the centre of the complex which numbers sixteen structures in all and is listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The most distinctive landmark in Pecs is still the four-towered cathedral which has been destroyed and rebuilt more than once. The foundation stone was laid by King Stephan in 1009 but the present neo-Romanesque exterior is a product of the 19th century. To mark the 1,000 anniversary the facade has been renovated and the attractive square in front has been remodelled to create a handsome urban ensemble. After so much cultural input most visitors will be in need of some rest and refreshment and fortunately they do not have to go far to find it. The downtown Király utca pedestrian area yields plenty of restaurants and cafes and while sipping a drink at one of the tables outside visitors will probably be struck by the large number of young people in this student city. Január 8,2010 ÍD SUBSCRIBE TO THE HÍRLAP! Roma drag each other down According to a study released last week by the National Institute of Criminology (OKRI), Roma people living in ghettos have little or no hope of breaking out from their surroundings and those who try to do try to break out are ostracised from the community. The research suggests that despite living in close proximity, these groups have no sense of community or solidarity and the lack of schemes aimed at solving the issue makes the problem even more difficult to solve. “We are sitting atop a powder keg, and methods to create ‘order’ in these ghettos have become a part of day-to-day politics,” criminologist and OKRI chief Dr. György Virág said, adding that the survey showed that the relationship between Roma and Hungarians has worsened considerably in towns through which the far-right Hungarian Guard have marched. Researchers surveyed 16 Roma ghettos twice, with a year between the two visits, and tried to find answers to the segregation, the significance of tradition, the widespread poverty, scarcity of food, as well as the extent of usury, alcoholism and violence. The results suggest that people living in such conditions principally only share a „community of fate”, but have no other bonds to unite against their abusers. Discrimination and anti-Roma statements are of no concern to the elderly of these groups, but they infuriate younger generations and increase discord. Last Thursday, the US embassy’s charge d’affaires Jeffrey D. Levine visited a Roma community in Nyíregyháza on a fact-finding mission and spoke with locals, according to news agency MTI. Levine called the elimination of school segregation in the community a success story and also said that Hungary has all the resources it needs to successfully integrate the Roma into society. Estimates put the gypsies at arond six per cent of Hungary’s ten million population. Nationalist Guard Has No Legal Recourse in Hungary Hungary’s Supreme Court upheld an order disbanding of the Hungarian Guard, which is identified with the extreme nationalist Jobbik Party. The decision was the third judicial ruling within a year making the openly racist paramilitary organization illegal, and exhausting all avenues of further appeal within Hungary. Jobbik chairman Gabor Vona said following the ruling that the Guard would nevertheless continue to function pending an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. The order to disband applies to both the Guard and the Guard Society to which it formally belongs. The Supreme Court said the organizations had abused their own charter, as well as the democratic right of assembly, by targeting and deliberately generating fear in racially defined Hungarian minority groups. The Guard is modeled after the wartime Hungarian Arrow Cross bands that killed thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Its ranks include uniformed units of the „Guard Gendarmerie,” modeled after the main Hungarian law enforcement agency assisting Nazi Germany in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews, as well as Gypsies, to Auschwitz. Jobbik has achieved major electoral gains in Hungary during the current recession and is widely expected to emerge as a substantial parliamentary force in the 2010 national vote. 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