October 2016 - Issue 14 - Pécs City Guide

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PCG Pécs City Guide / October 2016 / Issue 14

News

Statue of Pécs-born Turkish historian causing debates

Features

We introduce the new zoo, Industrial design from Pécs

Events

Mayberian Sanskülotts, André Winter, Actus Tragicus

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Waiting for you:

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

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Contents & Co.

Contents 04

IN BRIEF

Lights test for TV-tower, Statue causing debates, Leash recommended

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EXPATS

08 10

Di Wu’s first trip abroad brought her to Pécs

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FEATURES

We introduce the new zoo, Revived furnitures

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DRINK & DINE

Oak barrels, Graphite Bar, St Martin’s day, Chestnuts, Fellow’s Burger & Sandwich

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TO DO

Mayberian Sanskülotts, Label contest and exhibtion, Concerts

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ESSENTIALS Freemasons

This issue’s cover photo was taken at Tettye square renovated and partially reconstructed for the festive year of 2010.

The ruins of Szathmáry bishop’s summer palace built in the 16th century have been completed according to plans by architects Márton Dévényi és Pál Gyürki-Kiss.

The palace was a dervish monostery during Turkish occupation and the ruin was a popular venue for summer festivals.

HI

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, I wouldn’t like to write about the disappearing Magasház in each foreword so I’m going to tell you about another building soon to be demolished. Yes, we still have some and letting go important pieces of our recent history is sometimes quite hard. And without doubt: the first real mall in the region FEMA is one of them. In the outskirts of Pécs, built in the 1990s, at the dawn of our fragile new democracy (and sort of capitalism) it was a symbol.

Unique architecture, the availability and quantity of goods seen previously nowhere else in the October 2016 | Issue 14 region made it a symbol of hope.

The free, insert magazine of Later others, bigger and more acDunántúli Napló in English. cessible ones came and it was Editor-in-chief/Publisher: László Póré abandoned more than a decade Managing editor: Ervin Gűth ago. Kind of sad seeing the decay, Contributor: László Nógrádi but even more sad is that there is Published by Mediaworks Hungary Zrt. no plan for something new on its Baranya Megyei Irodája place. Business as usual here...

Sales manager: Gyöngyi Nagy Any feedback is appreciated Phone: +36 72 505 060, +36 30 9971 006 and please feel free to contact E-mail: gyongyi.nagy@mediaworks.hu me at: info@pecscityguide.com.

Printed at Paletta Press Nyomda Kft. Thanks for your attention and see 2092 Budakeszi, Szőlőskert u. 19. you in November.

ISSN 08659133 Ervin Gűth, editor

Pécs City Guide

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In Brief

TV-TOWER’S NEW LIGHTS UNDER TESTING

STATUE OF PÉCSBORN TURKISH HISTORIAN UNVEILED Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) offered installing a statue of Turkish historian İbrahim Peçevi at Kórház square, just in front of Jakovali Hassan Pasha’s mosque. The scholar born in the 16th century in Pécs (hence the name Peçevi) was one of the first Turkish historians citing and referencing Western European colleagues in his works and his most famous accomplishment is the Tarih-i Peçevi.

But not everybody did like the idea of installing the statue. Local right wing

politicians argued that allowing this is a shame since the Turkish occupation did mean nothing good for Hungary or Pécs. Local left wing politicians on the other hand argued with more current issues, they said it means nothing good to have good relations with the anti-democratic Turkish government.

As usually, the local politicians of the governing party gave none of these concerns credit and the statue was unveiled a couple of weeks ago. The costs of the 2 meter high bronze figure were covered by Turkey.

IS REALLY A LUXURIOUS DORMITORY IN THE WORKS?

Rumour says that another abandoned building of Pécs could find a new purpose. According to local newspapers Pátria, the hotel next to Kórház square that used to be a quite modern establishment in the 1980s is going to be transformed to a luxurious (or at least a well equipped) dormitory. Although this information couldn’t be confirmed yet but the idea sounds great. This would be a much needed upgrade since housing problems seem to be unsolvable problems for ages in town. We would have loved a similar final solution for the Magasház too but our good guess is that Pécs has missed that boat..

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

City council would like to spend HUF500 million on revamping the vicinity of the TV-tower of Pécs.

There are several plans on how this should be done right. At least one interesting (some might say crazy) idea is to have an ice skate rink on the top of a neighbouring building. One thing seems to be sure: a new lighting system is on the way. and there are several patterns to choose from.

The testing was done on three following evenings.

KEEP DOGS ON LEASH

Twice a year - usually in the beginning of October and in the first weeks of April - foxes are vaccinated against rabies by food. In these periods particularly until October 30 dog owners are asked to have their pets on leash when walking in public spaces in and around Pécs.

The vaccanited food can’t do any harm to people or animals. Pet owners are only asked to being cautious because authorities would like to vaccinate as many foxes as possible.

Thanks to this prevention method the disease in the Hungarian fox population is quite rare. pecscityguide.com pecscityguide.com

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Expats

DI WU LEARNED TO LOVE GULYÁS Di Wu’s first journey outside of China brought her straight to the University of Pécs. She was 18 years old back then and just finished high school. Almost four years later she is an intern at the International Office at the Faculty of Business and has some remarkable insights about town.

What’s your story? How did find Pécs?

After graduating from high school I chose majoring in English and business.

I have been told at the education agency that I could try studying abroad and I started looking for universities. A friend of the family who works at the education agency told us about Pécs and the Faculty of Business. So we checked its background, its long history was appealing and I finally arrived here in 2013. After preparatory school I started business school and I live in the dormitory next to the library.

What is your hometown like?

It’s called Shangrao, and you can find it in the southeastern part of China but not at the coast. There are a lot of mountains and rivers and we have a lot of nature sights and attractions.

What is your first memory of Pécs?

When I arrived here for preparatory school there were not that many international students since it was a weekend. I found the people nice, maybe because they don’t meet many foreigners.

Everybody was very helpful and even if they didn’t speak English at all they tried to explain where to find what I was looking for. Sure, at first everything was unfamiliar and I felt very homesick.

I tried to contact my parents often but

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

after school started and I met my classmates everything went fine. I had to ask a lot of question what is appropriate to do in Hungary. Like giving your seat to elders on the bus. Is this okay or this a rude thing to do?

What are your favourite places?

I found a violin teacher who works at Kodály Centre and she showed me the building and invited us to concerts. This is my favourite place in town. Also the TV-tower and its vicinity. Mecsextrém Park is also a great place to have a lot of fun. We have a Chinese students union and we organize trips and events for ourselves and this was one of our destinations.

Any favourite venues?

We go to Replay quite often. It’s not cheap but the food is quite good. Also Lezser is a favourite because they speak English very well. The newly opened Főtér is also a place where I like to go out, they also have wine from Tokaj that is something I always bring to my family when visiting them.

How often do you see your family?

I travel back to China only once a year in the summer but then for three months.

Any advice for newcomers in Pécs?

I advise students to join as many orientation activities as possible. Join as

many events as possible. For tourists: I think if you have a sunny day everything will be just fine since the atmosphere is great here.

What do you miss from Pécs?

There is nothing that comes to my mind instanly, but it would be nice to meet more people from Pécs since they usually seem to be very nice. I never had difficulties like in Budapest where people just go by and ignore you e.g. if you ask them for direction.

Do you go to the Chinese restaurants here?

Not really, because the food is not at all like at home. Actually, they can make everything if you ask them and if can tell the name of the dish. But that’s more expensive than the dishes on their menu.

Do you have a favourite Hungarian food?

Yes, I do love gulyás (Goulash). In the beginning I didn’t like eating out in Hungarian restaurants since everything was too salty for me. But I got used to it.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m looking for another European business school to make my MA there. I’m collecting information right now, but maybe there will be a gap. I’m thinking about working a year somewhere, maybe in Budapest. pecscityguide.com

Feature

PÉCS ZOO IS BRAND NEW AND WORTH A VISIT OR TWO

Pécs has a zoo with decades of tradition and great plans for the future. No pandas as of now, but plenty other animals. We visited the facility on the last sunny day of September but there is a lot to see even in bad weather.

The park on Misina hill, near the TV-tower and can be reached by a number of buses, but a 30 minute walk will also get you there from the heart of the city. The uphill climb is definitely worth the exercise, as the zoo that was originally built in 1960 is now fully remodelled for the requirements of the 21st century. Locals could entertain you with the stories of the past from the socialist era and the struggles of the last couple of decades, but the recent attractions of the zoo are washing over the memories for the better.

The park takes up 40 thousand square meters, so it is not gigantic at all, but the somewhat confined space is used effectively. Outdoor locations and inside attractions are mixed well, and most importantly the animals seem to enjoy

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

enough living space for their needs. The staff is taking care of 250 species of more than a thousand animals. Among the biggest are the american buffaloes, but the selection is getting regular updates - the next arrivals are said to be brown bears.

As the aquarium and terrarium was moved from its former downtown location up the hill too, a great set of reptiles and fish can also be admired in the main building, where the inside of the chimpanzees’ quarters can be viewed as well.

Outside the seal pool is a real gathering point, especially at the time of the regular feedings. To keep in mind, the seals can be seen swimming around in their pool gracefully from the main building’s aquarium, so even if it is raining outside, you can enjoy their sight.

The rest of the park still holds some remaining elements of its outdated past - for example some benches will have to be replaced - but most of the steel bars were replaced with safety glass to name just one positive example of the changes. An other symbol of fundamental improvement is the outside gift shop, that took the old, caged place of the chimpanzees.

The tickets are reasonably priced, a single ticket cost 1990 HUF, 1490 for students and 1300 for children. The park opens at 9 every day and closing comes at 6 in the evening in summer, 5 until the end of October and 4 in winter time. The attractions easily fill up a 3-4 hours visit at once, but if you happen to arrive with kids, you can plan for a whole day too. A restaurant and food pecscityguide.com

vendors are available as well with reasonable selection of fast food and traditional dishes. Although they missed the opportunity to bring a little flair to the kitchen - we would love to see animal-themed items that would attract more kids too.

Being a little small and obviously no match for the famous large institutions of the world, Pécs Zoo is still a local must see. The experience of an animal park half inserted in a natural forest is unique, and the place has an overall family-feeling to it. Finally, a pro tip for souvenirs: at the entrance, you can buy beautiful bird-shaped metal pins for cheap and even support the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society with your purchase.

László Nógrádi

ADOPT AN ANIMAL FOR MORE FUN A common feature in the world’s animal parks is available in Pécs too. Visitors can become sponsors of the zoo by signing up for adoption. The options start from as little as 5000 HUF and practically any animal can be adopted.

You cannot take them home of course, but the donations help to maintain their habitat and support the costs of their keeping. The zoo offers small gifts and recognitions in return, such as publishing the names of the foster parents on

the website of the zoo and an invitation for the special event for sponsors in early October every year. Some animals can even be fed by the new parents at these events - but don’t expect a family visit inside the lion’s den.

Adopting an animal can also be a nice surprise as a gift or even a subtle message. Sure anyone would be delighted to receive a monkey or inspired by an adopted tiger, but a warthog in the family cannot be compared to anything else.

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Feature

INDUSTRIALIZED You have seen those shabby lamps, aged chairs and tables, old lockers, once perfect shop signs on Pinterest, design blogs and magazines for sure. Despite their worn-out appearance these are not to be confused with garbage at all. These are trendy interior design items and actually quite usable. Thanks to the work of people like Ákos Szabó the founder of Arteria Industrial in Pécs.

The small business of Ákos started operation a year ago and the Design Week in Pécs last month gave us the chance to finally pay a visit to their headquarters close to Tettye. The workshop has an authentic setting since the whole building used to be a gloves factory complex. Huge spaces everywhere, the kind of rooms that would have been already transformed into flats in Berlin, Paris and London. And equipped with items like Arteria is dealing with.

The loft showing bare bricks and a ceiling with flaking paint is an office, workshop, photo studio and warehouse stacked with items. “Everything you see here is for sale”, says Ákos who has spent 8 years working abroad before coming back to Pécs. He did fall in love with the style in London and wanted to have the same atmosphere in his very own flat.

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

He had more and more items and started to sell them. Things got serious and the business was born. He also has some help now with collecting and reworking the items. Meanwhile his girlfriend does a lot the marketing tasks which is a key part since there is competition. They do not target the Hungarian market since there is no real demand for their items in the country. More than 90% of their sales goes directly to the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Their daily tasks sound easy and the workflow can be summarized in three steps. First, they buy stuff (the origin of all items is documented) from abandoned places like factories, warehouses or clinics. The second step is to clean and repair the items so using them is safe. Important is not to alter their style and keep as much as possible of the ret-

ro flair. The third is to sell the pieces. All steps have their problems that need to be solved but Arteria seems to be fine doing the job.

Their biggest assignment up to date was to restore 20 industrial lamps for a firm in London that lends decorations for the entertainment industry. The work took them almost two months.

But the nice fact about these items is that once restored they have excellent quality. Ákos says he sees the possibility in growing the business although it’s getting harder and harder to find items that can be saved since they have explored almost every abandoned and available building in the vicinity of Pécs. But trips to distant places are worth the hassle because unique and authentic items can have a fitting price tag. pecscityguide.com

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Drink & Dine

TOASTED

Mecsek hills offer a couple of good stuff for the gastronomy like wild garlic, chestnuts or porcino mushrooms but as far as I know there is only one thing that is exported all over the world. The oak from the forests of the Mecsek combined with oaks from Zemplén hill make up perfect barrels for aging wine.

We visited the manufactory of European Coopers close to Pécs in Palotabozsok.

During the history of wine production different containers like amphoras, jars and barrels have been used. Bottles are only a couple of hundred years old. Wooden barrels are still used to store different liquids but in modern wine production it’s much more common to have huge wine tanks made of stainless steel. These are not altering the taste and don’t let oxygen get in reaction with the liquid. Both are quite risky. Also tanks don’t get old, and you don’t have to throw them out after a couple of years, which makes production less expensive.

On the other side the taste (and sometimes texture) altering effect of oak barrels is something that can make good wines even better. You can get a more complex taste thanks to aging, the process when wine is stored on a low but stable temperature (preferably in a cellar). During these months the wine soaks up flavours from oak. These - e.g. smoky, vanilla, cinnamon, meaty - depend on the different types of woods used for the barrel and of course the method of making the barrel.

American, French and Hungarian origin oaks are the most popular woods used in barrel production. American are the cheapest, French are leading the sales but in terms of quality Hungarian producers are also playing in the top league. For example in New Zealand the two thirds of wineries use Hungarian barrels for their pinot noir.

In the manufactory of European Coopers oak from the Zemplén hill and the Mecsek hill are used, combined for each barrel. This is the case since the foundation of the business in the 1990s, and between the owners you find the Antinoris.

The noble family from Italy has interests in wine production all around the world. The leading cooper of the manufactory Kristóf Flódung showed us the production process.

After buying the best wood the blocks are stored open air for three years. During this time the wood is loosing it’s heavy tannins (type of acid) thanks to the rain but also dries out properly. Cutting exact shapes is very important since this is the only way to create fitting pieces. Pieces are bent by using heat, water and barrels get assembled.Sometimes this is enough but often toasting is applied to get smoky or caramelized flavours. This is the barrique technique.

New methods, the latest machines are employed at almost each step: a couple of decades ago it took weeks to create a single barrel. Today it takes only some hours. But it’s not a cheap process and oak is expensive which explains why new barrels that can contain 225 litres of wine costs between EUR400-1200. So the next time you buy some expensive wine keep in mind that some of the money was spent maybe on some Hungarian oak from the Mecsek.

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

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Drink & Dine

IT’S A LOT EASIER TO TRY LOCAL CHESTNUTS

The hills of Mecsek offer one of the rarest delicacies of the season: chestnuts.

The magnificent trees form grooves in small settlements like Mecseknádasd and Zengővárkony, to name a few.

These are nice tourist locations as well, a walk under the colourful leaves is always an uplifting experience.

FELLOW’S GETS THE CUBANO AND THE BURGER RIGHT

Gastropolitan is my first choice of butcher shops in Pécs since they can get any meat that is legal. I was quite happy when I realized that they open a street food booth on Ifjúság street. Great is that after trying all foods available at Fellow’s Burger & Sandwich, I’m even happier.

Sure, we are not talking about an exclusive or low budget establishment but something in between. Some of the best features of the two worlds with some of the disadvantages of them. The place used to be a greengrocers and is quite small with no seats at all but counters for maximum 6 people. Everything is available for take away and I think you are even encouraged to act accordingly.

If you have a butcher shop – and actually a wholesale business for restaurants – the decision to open a burger and sandwich shop seems like something very natural. You can get the best ingredients on a regular basis without any problems and for a reasonable price. And this is something that the casual customer gets instantly when

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

trying anything at Fellow’s. The beef for the burger patties or the meat for the Cubano are of excellent quality. The next neccessary step is making no harm to them. Like said, I tried everything and almost everything is without any flaws.

There are at least three price categories and I’m not going to write here about the bottom line. The Cubano sandwich (HUF1260) is without doubt the best they have to offer. Superb meat with great curry sauce just enough veggies and all this in a perfect panini. The burger is just perfect but you have to tell them if you want the patty to be medium rare since the default is well done.

The Philly Cheese steak sandwich has also superb meat and the grilled veggies are great too, but the cheese sauce is a little bit dull. The Fellow’s dog with self made sausages is the ultimate best buy.

Another great thing is that they have two types of coffe to offer, one budget blend and the other is a premium arabica both from a pod machine but this is only a small compromise for the price.

A “thousand year old” chestnut orchard can be found in Pécs as well, in the suburban area of Pécsbánya. The ancient miners’ settlement started a revival project where local low income families are organized for communal activities, giving them a boost to get away from the situation.

One of their actions involves Pécs citizens and visitors as well. A local NGO is collecting the chestnuts and starts street vending shops across the city. The little pop-up shops sell roasted chestnuts, a common delicacy in Europe, especially connected to Christmas fairs. But you don’t have to wait until the holiday season as the street shops will open from mid October already.

Sure, you can also buy chestnuts to roast at home, but the practice is somewhat tricky and most of the chestnuts in stores come from Italy, Spain or even China. So here is your chance to buy and try the real, local stuff - and give back a little to the community. pecscityguide.com

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Drink & Dine

GRAPHITE BAR HAS A DAILY PASTA MENU AND SUPERB BEER SELECTION

The vicinity of University of Pécs gets a new venue almost every month and this is something I’m really happy about since I also live quite close to this area. The second newcomer of the season is Graphite Bar located on the upper side of Rókus street, a shop that used to be a Turkish sandwich place for a couple of years. But almost nothing reminds on that.

The venue is categorized as a sports bar on Facebook, but except the displays on the walls nothing else seems to be sports themed. Besides that the interior is a trendy mixture of stylish design and cool colors. The menus likewise and they have a bunch of them which is also a little bit confusing. Seperate menu

cards for coffee, wine and unfortunately no printed menu for beer. That is a pity since their selection is quite good.

Actually I think it’s the best in the area.

They have mostly imported beers but even more interesting: a big selection from Karl Microbrewery. The craft beer from Mecseknádasd, that is a 25-minute drive close to Pécs, delivers superb quality straight from the bottom line that is called Nádasdi (HUF700/glass) and is usually on tap. The bottled beers are also superb if you love quality craft beer, this is the best place to give the Karl sortiment a try in town.

Illy is their choice of coffee and there is nothing wrong with that but the bar

tenders need some schooling. (Note: the Italian brand was started in 1933 by Hungarian inventor-coffee salesman Ferenc Illy and is still run as a family business.)

In terms of wine they keep it simple and very priceworthy. Only three wineries and two wines from each and the prices start as cheap as HUF200/dl.

You can get a daily menu that’s always some kind of pasta available for takeaway. Actully it’s more accurate if we say that there is pasta for takeaway and you can eat it on location since you get the meal in a paper box anyway. They also have a nice selection of cakes usually with a gluten-free and sugar-free option.

ST MARTIN DAY IS COMING November 11 is a feast day since medieval ages. It’s a commemoration of St. Martin of Tours, born in the 4th century in the Roman province Pannonia, more precisely what is present-day western Hungary. The goose became a symbol of the saint because when trying to avoid being ordained bishop he had hidden in a goose pen, where he was betrayed by the cackling.

The holiday originated in France and quickly spread to Germany, and Eastern

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

Europe. It is usually a celebration of a successful harvests too.

Especially in Villány goose dishes are accompanied by the first wines from the latest vintage. The first wine used to be made from the Portugieser variety that is usually a very fruity wine with mild acidity. It is also the most popular wine of Villány, almost every winery has it in their product line. During November most wineries and a lot of restaurant will have special goose offers. pecscityguide.com

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To Do

ANDRÉ WINTER

MAYBERIAN SANSKÜLOTTS Thanks to accessible production software and hardware making pop music became much easier in recent years.

Music industry is much more diverse now and it’s also easier to start a music career. One of the best Hungarian examples are Mayberian Sanskülotts, who started as a DIY boy-girl duo and became one of the leading bands of Bu-

dapest’s lo-fi boom on the summer of 2011. Fragile songs and minimalism: now being a proper band with a bass player and a drummer, they are better than ever before. Stripped down, still multi-layered, one of the best indie-pop acts in the country.

Oct 21, 9pm Nappali (Király st 23-25) Free.

Info & listen: mayberian.com

André Winter started making music at the dawn of the German techno scene and is among the best producers ever since. Hungarian dj’s Metha and Sterea support him with some house, techhouse and techno on this evening..

October 29, 10pm Amper Klub, Czinderi st 6, Info: andrewinter.com Tickets: HUF1000.

ACTUS TRAGICUS

BOGYÓLÉ LABEL CONTEST AND EXHIBITION 2016

There have been several co-operations between the Faculty of Arts at the University of Pécs and the Vylyan Winery from Kisharsány. One re-occuring, annual event is the wine bottle label contest, exhibition and tasting.

Students of the faculty can participate and design labels for the latest vintage of the Bogyólé blend. Which rhymes intentionally on Beaujolais but has actually almost nothing to do e.g.

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

with the Gamay grape variety. Anyway, the wine is always an easygoing, fruity and delicate blend and designs are expected to reflect that. The wines will be comercially available with the winning label. At the event you can not only see the best designs but also taste the vintage of 2016 for free.

Exhibition: October 19-31, E78 – Kemence Gallery (Zsolnay Cultural Quarter) Event: October 27, 5pm. Free.

As part of the Musica Sacra series by the Pannon Philharmonics László Dobos and András Vass (pic above) conduct a memorial concert for the upcoming All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day. On the programme: Purcell’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary and several pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach.

October 28, 7:30pm, Kodály Centre (Breuer Marcell prm 4); HUF10008500 More: pfz.hu pecscityguide.com

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PHOTOS: LÁSZLÓ TÓTH

To Do

PREVIEW: EVENTS IN NOVEMBER

THE POWER OF TALENT The Kodály Center resident Pannon Philharmonics team up with several soloists to give a charity concert for the children of Pécs. On the programme: Fledermaus Overture by Johann Strauss, Concerto inDecent, 2nd and 3rd mvts by Péter Wolf, Piano Concerto in C Major, K.467 − 2nd and 3rd mvts. by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

November 4, 7pm, 7pm, Kodály Centre (Breuer Marcel way 4) Tickets: HUF3500-7500.

ISTVÁN B GELLÉR AND TOLOOSE LAWTRACK

A visual and intellectual superiority shines from all the works by István B. Gellér. This was verdict of his monumental exhibition in 2010 titled The Growing City and this is the case with his latest showcase titled only The Exhibition of István B. Gellér and Toloose Lawtrac.

The artist from Pécs, who is going to be 70 years old this year, is still a very active creator. In the last decades he explored the overlapping territories of sculpting, painting and organizing space while creating different mythologies standing on their own. We could try to put labels on them but actually there is no category where his creations would fit in. Sure there are signs

that help us to orientate between genres and styles but the works are that strong that there is no need for this.

Until November 13, Pécsi Galéria (Széchenyi square) Tickets: HUF250/500.

YOU’LL RECOVER - DRMÁRIÁS

Right now there is no easier way to get a glimpse of Eastern European fears, hopes and nightmares that are manifested in paintings than visiting this exhibition. The collusion of current politics with the avantgarde movement as seen and painted by DrMáriás (self portrait on the left) with humour and killing, sharp irony are disturbing and funny even to those who don’t get every reference. We really do wonder how the exhibition of the excentric writer and musician made it on the walls of Zsolnay Cultural Quarter. Even more interestingly at least one member of the political class showed up at the event: Pécs major gave a speech at the vernissage.

Until November 30, Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, M21 Gallery (Zsolnay Cultural Quarter) Tickets: HUF250/500.

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

ROBERT BABICZ

More than 1000 releases, seven albums and a flood of tracks for different labels mark the musician’s career that started in 1992. Robert Babicz continuously pushes the boundaries of electronic music as an artist, consultant, teacher, and engineer. His exceptional sound-design, mastering and studio skills have prompted companies like Apple or Native Instruments to request his help on various sound-design projects. He also teaches workshops on production and his music philosophy. Wherever he travels the world, Robert Babicz is instantly recogniseable for his music, his warm smile, his energy, and his bright red scarf. And he’s coming to town for the first time ever.

November 12, Amper Klub, Czinderi st 6, Info: robertbabicz.de Tickets: HUF1000. pecscityguide.com

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Essentials

FREEMASONS by

Ervin Gűth

You don’t have to be a tinfoil hat wearing weirdo to acknowledge that secret societies did shape the history of makind to some extent.

These clubs are usually the gatherings of wealthy white men who want to have or want to have even more political, cultural influence. Power. I’m quite sure that you have already heard in movies about the Illuminati, but one of the most influential groups was (or is?) the freemasons. A secret society that used to be quite active until the second world war in Hungary too. You find well known artists, philosophers, lawyers, politicians, businessmen among them from all over the world. Some experts and the freemasons themselves draw a more harmless even sympathic picture. They say that their goal is to make the world a better place. They organize charities on a regular basis and do a lot of community work on a local, national and international level. This depends on the scale of the lodge. Like said this international community has lodges – that’s how

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Pécs City Guide October 2016

freemasons call their units – all around the world and not only big cities but towns like Pécs did have their own. But how do they relate to the present of the city? And how much did they shape the city in the past centuries?

We can’t say that their handmark is everywhere in Pécs but there are several spots where you can find sure signs of their doing. Unfortunately most of the documents did disappear in the beginning of the 20th century since the grand master of the society in Pécs had to flee. Dr. Sándor Doktor the founder of the first woman’s clinic in town had to leave the country because of his communist ideas and connections and took all the docs of local freemasons. Nothing has been returned.

Though there are several signs and general symbols used by them all around Pécs. One of the most interesting sights is in the middle of Király street. You just have to look up a little bit to realize the wonderful relief on Vasváry-house (pic above). The building

accomodates now a museum and a permanent exhibition. Other buildings like the train station that has been renovated last year or the statue of Vilmos Zsolnay also have the same sign indicating the strong ties to the faternity.

Even more obvious is the connection on the front of Csukás-house that can be found in Perczel street that is parallel to Király street. According to local newspapers from the beginning of the 20th century the building used to be the main venue for masonic ceremonies. No wonder there are some urban legends about the place it has several huge cellars that are connected to the underground network of cellars below downtown. The house accomodates now an LGBT coffee shop and meeting point.

It’s always a good advice to take a look above street level when exploring a city and it’s even more interesting when you know what to search for. Keep that in mind when you pass by the mentioned buildings. pecscityguide.com

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