Debrecen , (approximate pronunciation, Deb-ret-sen, known by alternative names),^[1] 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.

Name

The name was first mentioned by the name "Debrezun" in 1235. Theories say the name is of Kuman origin. In other languages: in Romanian Debre?in, in German Debrezin, in Serbian Debr(e)cin.

Location and transport infrastructure

Kossuth Square

The city used to be somewhat isolated from Budapest, Hungary's main transport hub. However, the new sections of motorway M3 (M35) have already significantly decreased travel times. Also, there have been 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

Stephen Bocskay, was a Hungarian noble from Transylvania.

In 1361 King Louis I of Hungary granted 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. King Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, as part of a treaty with Serbian ruler Despotus Stefan Lazarevi?, gave him Debrecen as a gift in September of 1411. A year after Lazarevi?'s death in 1426, the lord of Debrecen became Despotus ?ura? Brankovi? of Serbia, Stefan's succesor. 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 calvinists. Debrecen became sanjak between 1541-1693 and orderly bounded to eyalets of Budin (1541-1596), E?ri (1596-1660) and Varat (1660-1693) as Debreçin.

Csokonai Theatre

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.

Central Debrecen with the "Unfinished Tower"

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 Nagyerd? ("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.

Déri Museum

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

The main building of the University of Debrecen.

Sports

The city has a famous football club, Debreceni VSC. Nowadays it's one of the best teams in Hungary, won the national championship in the consecutive seasons of 2004/2005, 2005/2006 and 2006/2007. The stadium, which has more than 10,000 seats, is at the Oláh Gábor street, in the City Park (Nagyerd?). The color of the team is red at home, and white when the match is away.

The city has hosted several international sporting events in the last years, for example in July 2001 the second World Youth Championships in Athletics and in October 2006 hosted the first IAAF World Road Running Championships and also the 2007 European SC Swimming Championships.

The city was officially an applicant city to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

Gallery

<gallery> Image:Modemdebrecen12.jpg|Leonardo's Colossus and the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art. Image:Debrecensreet.jpg|Street in Debrecen Image:DebrecenEgyetem.jpg|University of Debrecen Image:DebrecenCimer.jpg|Coat of Arms Image:Debrecen17.jpg|County House Image:Református Kollégium.jpg|Calvinist College of Debrecen (founded in 1538) Image:Debrecen f?tér.JPG|The famous Aranybika (Golden Bull) Hotel Image:Kölcseydebreceninhungary.jpg|Kölcsey Convention Centre Image:Fonix.jpg|Fonix Hall Image:Hortobagy híd.jpg|Hortobágy Image:Debrecen31.jpg|Nagyerd? (Greatwood) City Park, the first Nature Reserve in Hungary Image:Debrecen légifotó.jpg </gallery>

Places to see

Debrecen, Saint Anna Church

Piac Street

Trams in Debrecen

• Protestant Great Church (Nagytemplom)
• City Park (Nagyerd?) 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 (born 1982), breaststroke swimmer
• Imre Lakatos (1922?1974), philosopher of mathematics and of science
• Paul László (1900?1993), architect
• Magda Szabó (1917-2007), writer
• Kocsár Miklós (born 1933), composer
• Zsolt Baumgartner (born 1981), Formula One driver

Lived in Debrecen

• Endre Ady (1877?1919), poet
• Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773?1805) poet
• Géza Hofi, (1936-2002) stand-up comedian
• Sándor Szalay (1909?1987), physicist, founder of ATOMKI
• Árpád Tóth (1886?1928), poet

Sister cities

Notes and references

External links

• Official site
• History of Debrecen and Hajdú-Bihar county
• Hajdu Online - county portal
• Debrecen Online portal
• Aerial photography: Debrecen
• Tour guide to Debrecen on SeeUinHungary.com
• Tram in Debrecen
• Debrecen photo gallery

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