Personal Veszprém

The history of city can be easily forgotten when its memories are kept and tucked away in archives. The Private Project, launched and promoted by the Veszprém-Balaton European Capital of Culture 2023, has set out to gather the significant memories of the last 150 years of the city with the help of the citizens of Veszprém. The history of the town comes to life through family stories through photo albums, public installations, interactive sculptures of venerable people, bus stops coming to life show-casing the life of the locals, shop windows of famous shops returning to their former glory.  Real and virtual historical spaces are brought to life by three-dimensional memory: we show the present, refer to the present and point to the future. 

Shop-window installations evoking the past centuries 

The history of a town may be seen through old pictures or may be kept in neat files in the archives, however, it could also exist in a form, which is approachable for anyone. During the one-year long series of programs, we have rejuvenated the window shops of five significant shops of the city based on the he pictures we discovered in the archives. Károly Francsics barber lived in the 19th century in Veszprém. and was also known to have written a unique personal diary in literary form. His shop window comes to life on Rákóczi út 4. The Black Eagle Pharmacy was the very first pharmacy of Veszprém, operating since the middle of the 18th century. It can be found on Rákóczi út 8. The town representative and county chief doctor, dr. Jenő Rosenberg, was also known as the doctor of the poor and the benefactor of man. His memory is honoured by the shop window displayed in the Rosenberg house. Arriving at Kossuth utca 17., the visitor may get to know the story of Jószef Streit, who worked as a photographer and took pictures of city during the horrific bombings of the Second World War, creating a unique historical picture album of the city. The special shop window of the Gourmandia Restraurant, overlooking Árpád Bruzsnyai street, portrays the stories of the pub owners of the town. 

Modern sculptures in honor of the past 

It is also our initiative to present life-sized sculptures of famous and people of Veszprém, with a new creative technique of three-dimensional printing using old photographs   We approached descendants of these famous people to take their photographs. The photos were taken using a special 3D  technology and later turned into sculptures, made out of polystryene.

Who did we choose to honour by these sculptures? The sculpture of the famous Noble-prize nominee geographer Jenő Cholnoky, also known for his significant research work of the Lake Balaton, is placed in the cosy garden of the Marica Café, found on Kossuth utca 5. The sculpture of Károly Francsics barber – who is also the author of one of the earliest personal diaries, written in literary form in Hungarian  – will be displayed in front of his old barber shop, on Rákóczi út 4. The doctor of the poor, the well-known and respected county chief medical officer’s sculpture can be found on the ground floor in front of the KUNSZT! The Rosenberg house, a palace built by the doctor himself in the Art Neuvo  style can be found on Óváros Tér.  The sculpture of Ferenc Óvári, the founder of the Balaton Association and member of the House of Lords, will be found in front of the Petőfi Theatre, in the street named after him. The sculpture of Imre Csikász, who died in his 30’s and was referred to as the Hungarian Rodin, will be displayed on the banks of the Séd creek, near the Apartment Restaurant, called Fricska.

Bus Stop Stories

Soldiers, members of noble families are gathering at a fancy outing, construction workers of the Jutasi apartment compound are cheering for the handball team, chief gardener of Ferenc Boda bishop is trimming rose bushes….just a few examples of the unique photo albums placed at different bus stops around Veszprém to connect the past to our present. The bus stop stories bring us a fresh perspective of storytelling, as all the pictures are those of the locals. They tell their stories, their joys, how they define themselves, what they like about their city and even the lack of pictures of certain events can make us wonder, why those pictures have never been taken. 

Collective memories of Veszprém

One of the main elements of the project is the carefully selected and digitalised photo album, which would not have been possible without the participation of the locals. Based on the city archives and other sources, we were able to work on the final compilation of this unique album. 

At the different Photo Points visitors may not only get their pictures digitalised but can also have their pictures taken by a professional photographer, which will also become part of the final selection commemorating the entire event. This will be accessible to everyone and will be also displayed in the coming fall. The final version of the album will also be published. Our hope is to create a platform, which will serve as a source for constant communication between different generations within the city.