American Corner director Zsuzsanna Nagy said the center for information and programmes that highlights American culture, history, current events, and government was opened in 2004. She added that it was the first of its kind in Hungary at the time, but now five such centres operate in Hungary, in Debrecen, Veszprém, Budapest and Eger, in addition to the one in Pécs.
Ambassador Kounalakis thanked Ms Nagy for her ?tireless efforts? and Pécs Mayor Zsolt Páva for his presence at the opening.
She said the American corner in Pés served to ?enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of the United State and Hungary?. She called the first American Corner in Hungary ?a trailblazer and a model?.
?The American Corner?s new location here in the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter will serve to further enhance collaboration with other institutions within the Cultural Quarter, as well as offer an international dimension to the community,? the ambassador said.
Each year the American Corner in Pécs hosts more than 10,000 visitors and puts on more than 100 programs that are all open and free to the public.
After the opening, Ambassador Kounalakis visited the Pécs House of Civil Communities, where she presented Krisztina Katona, founder of Mural Moral Field, a subchapter of the Pécs Color Space NGO, with the Active Citizenship Award.
?The Mural Moral Field helps people realize their potential and goals through painting murals. Krisztina works with young people in disadvantaged communities in and around Pécs who put their feelings about the world, their community and themselves into these pictures,? the embassy said on its website.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Embassy of the United States ? Budapest, Hungary / Photo: MTI
