A Day in Pécs

Hey all! Today was a very exciting day for our class. Yesterday was our first day with two math lessons– one in both the morning and afternoon. Today we decided that was enough of that, so we took a break from all of the Number Theory to take a day trip to the Hungarian city of Pécs (pronounced Paych).

Pécs is a three-hour drive from Budapest, and we left via bus just before seven in the morning. All of us on the bus were naturally full of energy and elated to be on the road at that hour.

Count the sleepers!

We left before breakfast was served at the hotel, but we each had bag breakfast packed for us to take on the bus. Professor Hanson told us he was up all night making them. I had my doubts, but I kept quiet. He does give me my grade, after all.

We arrived in the beautiful city of Pécs at around 10 in the morning. The first event on our agenda was a tour of a Hungarian high school, pictured below.

Leőwey Klára Gimnázium

We heard a presentation from a student about the school (in English, thank goodness), during which we learned about the differences between Hungarian and American school systems. Afterwards, we were given a tour of the school, during which we got to peek in some classrooms and get a feel for the place. The tour was led by a very welcoming teacher. Her students, not terribly sad about missing class, tagged along as well. This gave us Oles and the high schoolers the opportunity to mingle and practice each other’s languages. They were considerably better at English than we were at Hungarian, but we tried our best to get the most mileage possible out of “Thank You”, “I Speak English”, and the numbers one through ten.

The class stuck with us on a tour of the surrounding city as well. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and to us Minnesotans, the balmy 50-degree weather felt like about 75. One of the places we visited was an ancient tower, built in the 15th century as part of a wall to keep out invading Turks.

We were even able to go inside the tower and climb to the top, where we were treated to a nice view of the surrounding area. I don’t know how they expected the walls to keep out Turks if they couldn’t keep out a college class, but perhaps the Turks didn’t see the sidewalk that led right around to the tower. It was hidden behind bushes, after all.

After we said szia to the high school class, we all headed over to the Vasarely Museum as a class. Vasarely became famous in the 1900s for his surreal style and creative optical illusions. His style tends to include either bright colors or stark black and white in a given piece and relatively simple shapes, but arranged in unique patterns to create illusions and new, more complex forms. His most iconic works are of zebras, constructed entirely of black and white lines, like the one here, though his use of stretched shapes to create images of bulging spheres on flat surfaces, or at least derivative works, are possibly even better known.

This Zebra tapestry is an example of Vaserely's unique style

Once we had all made our way through the surreal collection, we visited the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul. Despite the four steeples, the outside of the cathedral was relatively unassuming. The interior, however, revealed a beautiful space, covered in paintings of various saints and prominent Catholic figures, and finely detailed stone and metal work all around. We didn’t stay for long, but certainly for long enough for the class to appreciate all of the artistry that had gone into constructing every inch of the space.

Here is the church, here are the steeples...

...Open the doors, and see the St. Olaf Budapest Interim 2015 class!

At this point, the class split up, free to explore any of the multitude of museums or shops around the main square. The two of us, along with half a dozen other students and Professor Hanson, decided to visit the Zsolnay workshop and museum. Unfortunately, the workshop was closed, but we still got to see plenty of ceramic art pieces that had been crafted by the Zsolnay family over the last two centuries. It was impressive to see all of the styles that different members of the family had mastered over time, as well as the amazing and vibrant spectrum of glazes that had been developed there. They are most famous for the glaze used on the pieces below, which has a sort of metallic sheen to it, causing all sorts of reflections and changing colors to be present.

Walking around the city, we saw plenty of interesting sights. There are multiple gates throughout the area which have been completely covered in layer upon layer of padlocks, for instance, each of which has the names of two people either written or engraved on it. We’re not quite sure at what point in a relationship people put their lock on the gate, but clearly many have reached it over the years. There was a relatively new structure of pillars designed to hold even more locks which looked to have plenty of room left, but a few years from now, who could say.

Locks of Love!

The main square itself is also a sight to see. At the top is a building that is now a church, but was originally a mosque constructed by the occupying Turks around 1600. There are various monuments throughout the square itself, as well as fountain which were unfortunately off for the winter. There were plenty of shops and restaurants around as well, providing a wide variety of ways to spend time. Really, it’s unfortunate we only got to spend one day there.

-Matt Ingalls and Jack Werner

P.S. Shout-out to Greta!