Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Debrecen

 
Dictionary: De·bre·cen   (dĕb'rĭt-sĕn', -rĕ-tsĕn') pronunciation
Home > Library > Travel > Dictionary - Places

A city of eastern Hungary near the Romanian border east of Budapest. Founded in the 14th century, it was the provisional capital from 1944 to 1945. Population: 204,000.

 

Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Debrecen
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

City (pop., 2001: 211,034), eastern Hungary. An important city in eastern Hungary, it has long been a market centre and a religious, political, and cultural arena. Chartered in the 14th century, it became prominent during and after the Turkish occupation. Hungary's short-lived independence from the Habsburgs was proclaimed there in 1849; the city later reverted to Austrian control. During World War II it was briefly the seat of the interim Hungarian government. The Great Reformed Church and Lajos Kossuth University (1912) are located there.

For more information on Debrecen, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Debrecen
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
Debrecen (dĕ'brĕtsĕn), city (1991 est. pop. 213,927), E Hungary, the nation's third largest city and the economic and cultural center of the Great Plain (Alföld) region E of the Tisza River. It is also a county administrative center, a road and rail hub, and an industrial city that produces agricultural machinery, pharmaceuticals, furniture, and pottery. Debrecen was traditionally famous for its fairs and livestock markets and is still a center for agricultural trade. Known in the 13th cent., the city grew as a market for cattle and grain. It became the stronghold of Hungarian Protestantism in the 16th cent., and its Calvinist college later formed the nucleus of a university. Under the Turkish occupation of Hungary (16th-17th cent.), Debrecen enjoyed semiautonomous status and often served as a refuge for peasants fleeing the Turks. It was also an important trade center, but the wars in the late 17th cent. between Christian Europe and the Turks ruined the city's economy. Debrecen became the center of Hungarian resistance against Austrian rule in the 19th cent.; and on Apr. 14, 1849, Louis Kossuth proclaimed Hungary's independence in the great church in the heart of Debrecen. Russian troops, who had helped the Hapsburgs crush the Hungarian uprising, occupied the city briefly. Economic revival began in the early 20th cent. In 1944-45, during World War II, Debrecen served as provisional capital of Hungary.

Wikipedia: Debrecen
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Debrecen
The Great Church

Coat of arms
Nickname(s): "The Calvinist Rome"
Debrecen is located in Hungary
Debrecen
Location of Debrecen
Coordinates: 47°31′48″N 21°38′21″E / 47.52997°N 21.63916°E / 47.52997; 21.63916
Country  Hungary
County Hajdú-Bihar
Government
 - Mayor Lajos Kósa
Area
 - Total 461.25 km2 (178.1 sq mi)
Population (2008)
 - Total 205,084
 - Density 442.53/km2 (1,146.1/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 4000
Area code(s) 52

Debrecen Hu-Debrecen.ogg [ˈdɛbrɛtsɛn] (help·info), (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.

Contents

Name

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

Location and transport infrastructure

Kossuth Square

Debrecen is located on the Great Hungarian Plain, 220 km (137 mi) east of Budapest. Situated nearby is the Hortobágy, a national park within Hungary .

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.

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.

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 Lazarević, gave him Debrecen as a gift in September of 1411. A year after Lazarević's death in 1426, the lord of Debrecen became Despotus Đurađ Branković 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), Eger (1596-1660) and Oradea (1660-1693).

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.

The famous Aranybika (Golden Bull) Hotel

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, taller 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. 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 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.


Population

Historical populations
Year Pop.  %±
1870 45,132 —
1880 50,320 11.5%
1890 56,246 11.8%
1900 73,878 31.3%
1910 90,764 22.9%
1920 101,543 11.9%
1930 116,013 14.3%
1941 124,148 7.0%
1949 115,399 −7.0%
1960 134,930 16.9%
1970 167,860 24.4%
1980 198,195 18.1%
1990 212,235 7.1%
2001 211,034 −0.6%
2005 204,297 −3.2%
2008 205,084 0.4%

Ethnic groups (2001 census)

  • Magyars - 94.7%
  • Roma - 0.5%
  • Others - 0.8%
  • No answer - 4%

Religions (2001 census)

Education

The main building of the University of Debrecen.

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. Debrecen is the site of an important choral competition, the Bela Bartok International Choir Competition, and is a member city of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.

Sports

The city has a famous football club, Debreceni VSC. It is currently one of the best teams in Hungary, having won the national championship in the consecutive seasons of 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and 2008/2009. The stadium, which seats more than 10,000, is on Oláh Gábor street, in the City Park (Nagyerdő). The home color of the team is red, while the away color is white.

The city has hosted several international sporting events in the last years, such as the second World Youth Championships in Athletics in July 2001 and the first IAAF World Road Running Championships in October 2006, as well as the 2007 European SC Swimming Championships. In 2002, Debrecen hosted the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

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

Gallery

Leonardo's Colossus and the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Street in Debrecen

University of Debrecen

Coat of Arms

County House

Calvinist College of Debrecen (founded in 1538)

Kölcsey Convention Centre

Főnix Hall

Hortobágy

Nagyerdő (Greatwood) City Park, the first Nature Reserve in Hungary

University of Debrecen

Interior of the Great Church

Places to see

Famous people

Debrecen, Saint Anna Church

Born in Debrecen

Lived in Debrecen

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Notes and references

  1. ^ Alternative spellings used in English include Debreczen and Debrcczin.
  2. ^ [1]

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Debrecen
v • d • e
Hajdú-Bihar County
Cities and towns Coat of Arms of Hajdú-Bihar County
Villages
v • d • e
Counties of Hungary
Counties Flag of Hungary
Urban counties

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Translations: Debrecen
Top
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Translations

Dansk (Danish)
n. - Debrecen

Deutsch (German)
n. - Debrecen

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮דברצ'ן‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Debrecen".  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more