Debrecen4U April 16, 2025

Debrecen students can discover the city’s hidden treasures on city history walks

The Municipality of Debrecen City pays great attention to the presentation of local values ​​that play a decisive role in the development of individual and community identity, and to introducing the city’s traditions and cultural heritage. As part of a pilot programme, city history walks are being organised for Debrecen students, about which a press conference was held on Déri Square on April 16, 2025.

Deputy Mayor István Puskás highlighted that several programmes have already been launched in order to strengthen the connection of Debrecen residents to the city itself and to strengthen Debrecenism, the Debrecen identity. He recalled that in recent years a series of books have been published about the city, but various contests, public installations and murals also serve the purpose of helping locals get to know their place of residence better.

“We are here on the occasion of launching a new programme that connects two important areas and existing motifs. One is education, and the opportunities and tasks of building Debrecen’s identity in education. The other is a very popular format in the city, which has provided many experiences for both tourists and the local population in recent years and today. This is the theme of city walks,” the Deputy Mayor emphasised. As he said, “In recent weeks they have been working on launching a pilot project this school year that invites Debrecen schoolchildren on city history walks so that they can get to know the city’s often hidden treasures.” He added that the first walk was organised in connection with the City Day for the young people and the occasions will continue after the spring break.

Director of the Debrecen School District, László Türk noted that the city history walks that are now starting can be realised as a result of a collaboration, the biggest winners of which are the children of Debrecen, who can receive reward lessons from the city of Debrecen. The Director pointed out that students and teachers can gain knowledge on these city history walks that can strengthen their Debrecen identity. He added that, in the first round, during the rest of the school year, the opportunity will be opened to third-year students, of whom more than a thousand can participate in the most diverse thematic walks on 37 occasions. The walks will take place during school hours, at the expense of afternoon free activities, so after mandatory school hours. Speaking about the future, László Türk said that if the city history walks are successful, they will be expanded to other grades and other maintainers.

The themes of the city history walks were developed by local government institutions, organisations (Déri Museum, Méliusz Juhász Péter Library, Visit Debrecen department of Főnix Event Organiser Public Nonprofit Ltd.) and the staff of the Natural History Museum, and they will also be the leaders of the walks.

During the walks, the children will not only discover the sights of the city centre or the Great Forest, but the walks will also take them to the Újkert and Csapókert districts or to lesser-known attractions, such as the Diószegi Sámuel Botanical Garden.

After organising this year’s events of the programme and summarising the experiences, they plan to continue the work next year. They would like to achieve that in the next phase, the city history walks can be supplemented with visits to institutions and museum pedagogical sessions.

Source and photo credit:debrecen.hu