Debrecen

Debrecen (approximate pronunciation: "deh-breh-tsen"; ; ; ; ) is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the capital of Hajdú-Bihar county.

Location and transport infrastructure

Debrecen is located on the Great Hungarian Plain, 220 km east of Budapest. Situated nearby is the Hortobágy, a national park within Hungarian Puszta famous for its wildlife and traditional agriculture.

Coordinates:

The city has been somewhat isolated due to poor transport links connecting the city to Budapest, Hungary's main transport hub and due to the fact that Hungary's transport system is very centralized. This retarded the city's tourist and economic potential. However, the new sections of motorway M3 have already significantly decreased travel times between Budapest and Debrecen. This motorway will be completed by the end of 2006. Also, there will be improvements to the current highway (main road) and modernisation of some parts of the rail tracks between the capital and Debrecen as part of Hungary's mainly EU-funded National Development Plan for 2004 to 2006. Debrecen Airport (the second largest in Hungary) has recently undergone modernisation in order to take more international flights.

In the longer term, Debrecen's proximity to Ukraine and Romania may enable it to develop as an important trade centre and transport link for the wider international region.

For local transport in the city see Public transport in Debrecen.

History

Before Hungarians occupied present-day Hungary, a number of different tribes lived in the area. The town came into existence by the merging of the small villages of the area, and was mentioned by the name "Debrezun" first in 1235. The name possibly comes from Slavic dobre zliem ("good soil".) Other theories say the name is of Turkish origin.

In 1361 King Louis the Great grants the citizens of Debrecen the right to choose the town's judge and council. This opened new opportunities for the town. By the early 16th century Debrecen was an important market town. Between 1450 and 1507, it was a domain of the Hunyadi family.

During the Ottoman period being close to the border and having no castle or city walls, Debrecen often found itself in difficult situations and the town was saved only by the diplomatic skills of its leaders. Sometimes the town was protected by the Ottoman empire, sometimes by the Catholic European rulers or by Francis II Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania. This led the town's citizens to be open-minded and Debrecen embraced the Protestant Reformation quite early, earning the moniker "Calvinist Rome". At this period the inhabitants of the town were mainly Hungarian protestants.

In 1693 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor elevated Debrecen to free royal town status. In 1715, the Roman Catholic Church returned to Debrecen, and the town gave them a place to build a church, so the Piarist monks could build the St. Anna Cathedral. By this time the town was an important cultural, commercial and agricultural centre, and many future scholars and poets attended its Protestant College (a predecessor of today's University of Debrecen).

In 1849 Debrecen was the capital of Hungary for a short time when the Hungarian revolutionary government fled there from Pest-Buda (modern-day Budapest.) In April 1849, the dethronization of Habsburgs (neglected after the fall of the revolution) and the independence of Hungary was proclaimed here by Louis Kossuth at the Great (Calvinist) Church (Nagytemplom in Hungarian.) Debrecen also witnessed the end of the war of independence; the battle in which the Russians, the allies of the Habsburgs, defeated the Hungarian army was close to the western part of the town.

After the war, Debrecen slowly began to prosper again. In 1857 the railway line between Budapest and Debrecen was completed, and Debrecen soon became a railway junction. New schools, hospitals, churches, factories, mills were built, banks and insurance companies settled in the city. The appearance of the city began to improve too: with new, higher buildings, parks and beautiful villas it no longer resembled a provincial town and began to look like a modern city. In 1884 Debrecen became the first Hungarian city to have a steam tramway.

After World War I, Hungary lost a considerable portion of its eastern territory to Romania, and Debrecen once again became situated close to the border of the country. It was controlled by the Romanian army for a short time in 1919. Tourism provided a way for the city to begin to prosper again. Many buildings (among them an indoor swimming pool and Hungary's first stadium) were built in the central park, the Nagyerdő ("Big Forest"), providing recreational facilities. The building of the university was completed. The Hortobágy, a large pasture owned by the city, became a tourist attraction.

During World War II Debrecen was almost completely destroyed, 70% of the buildings suffered damage, 50% of them were completely destroyed. A major battle, the Battle of Debrecen, occurred near the city in October 1944. After 1944 the reconstruction began and Debrecen became the capital of Hungary for a short time once again. The citizens began to rebuild their city, trying to restore its pre-war status, but the new, Communist government of Hungary had other plans. The institutions and estates of the city were taken into public ownership. This forced change of the old system brought new losses to Debrecen; half of its area was annexed to nearby towns, and the city also lost its rights over the Hortobágy. In 1952 two new villages – Ebes and Nagyhegyes – were formed from former parts of Debrecen, while in 1981 the nearby village Józsa was annexed to the city. The newly built blocks of flats provided housing for those who lost their homes during the war. In the following decades Debrecen was the third largest city of Hungary (behind Budapest and Miskolc), and became the second largest in the 1990s when the population of Miskolc decreased.

Education

Debrecen is home to a large university, University of Debrecen, whose main building is a widely recognized work of architecture. The university has many departments and is a major research facility in Europe.

Sports

The city has a famous football club, the DVSC. It's one of the best teams in Hungary, won the national championship in the consecutive seasons of 2004/2005 and 2005/2006. The stadium, which has more than 10,000 seats, is at the Oláh Gábor street, in the City Park (Nagyerdő). The colour of the team is red at home, and white when the match is away. The city hosted several international sporting events in the last few years.

Places to see

Protestant Great Church (Nagytemplom)
City Park (Nagyerdő) and spa
Déri Museum (art collection including paintings of Mihály Munkácsy; also has a collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts)
Flower Carnival of Debrecen held on 20th of August every year

Famous people

Born in Debrecen

Mihály Fazekas (1766–1828), writer
Mihály Flaskay (1982-), breaststroke swimmer
Imre Lakatos (1922–1974), philosopher of mathematics and of science
Paul László (1900–1993), architect
Magda Szabó (1917–), writer

Lived in Debrecen

Endre Ady (1877–1919), poet
Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773–1805) poet
Géza Hofi, humorist
Sándor Szalay (1909–1987), physicist, founder of ATOMKI
Árpád Tóth (1886–1928), poet

Sister cities

External links

Cities, towns and villages in Hungary | Cities, towns and villages in Hajdú-Bihar county | Debrecen

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