Petőfi Memorial Year Launched

A poetry flashmob, a poetry stage, unique outdoor installations, gastronomic specialties and renewed exhibition spaces await visitors in Kiskőrös, the hometown of the best-known Hungarian poet of the 19th century, Sándor Petőfi in connection with the Petőfi Memorial Year.

Sándor Petőfi, the Hungarian poet with works translated into the most (about 150) languages, was born on January 1, 1823 in Kiskőrös, in central-eastern Hungary.

According to a statement sent to the state news agency MTI about the opening event of the commemorative year, which is organized to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Sándor Petőfi, the mayor of Kiskőrös, László Domonyi, said at the ceremony that the program of events that have been prepared for the commemorative year would extend beyond the borders of the town and would be national and Carpathian Basin-wide.

As he said, a Petőfi Visitors' Center has been planned, for the construction of which they are looking for financial resources.

According to the press release, in Kiskőrös, Petőfi poems will be available in foreign languages in the poetry vending machine, and there will be a comfortable place to relax on the book-shaped poetry benches with quotations placed in several places in the town, while the signature wall will show which celebrities visited the poet’s house of birth since it opened in 1880.

There is also a temporary exhibition of a unique collection of more than 500 Petőfi-themed contemporary works of art. Among the gastronomic specialties, the Pilvax coffee liqueur – a reinterpretation of Petőfi's favorite drink based on a contemporary recipe – was created to mark the opening of the commemorative year.