Yesterday, the three-day manifestation ‘Days of Pécs in Novi Sad’ began with the gala reception in the City Hall, opening of the ‘Life of Pécs’ exhibition in Novi Sad Theatre and concert of the ‘Vivát Bacchus’ group during the tasting of Pécs-Villány wines at Ribarac.The manifestation is organised by the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ Foundation and city of Pécs, sister city of Novi Sad and a city that was the European Capital of Culture in 2010.

Srđan Kružević, Deputy Mayor of Novi Sad, greeted guests from Pécs in the City Hall, and, together with László Őri, Deputy Mayor of Pécs, officially opened the manifestation.Mr Kružević expressed his content that the two cities are once again united in an important project such as European Capital of Culture.

– Guests from Pécs have invaluable experience and can tell us about all the benefits that their city has gained owing to this prestigious title, and share that experience with our fellow citizens.We are yet to experience these benefits, because the appearance of the city, as well as life quality in it, will drastically improve.The European Capital of Culture actually encourages overall development of the environment that wins this title, and this is a boost for Novi Sad to implement large-scale projects, with support of the country and European Union – Mr Srđan Kružević said.

László Őri, Deputy Mayor of Pécs, said that the cooperation of the two sister cities is excellent, that it can only become stronger over time, and that Novi Sad and Pécs are now connected through another strong bond because both of them are now holders of the European Capital of Culture title.

Vuk Radulović, Head of the Sector for International Cooperation of the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ Foundation, greeted the guests in the City Hall and announced the three-day programme of the ‘Days of Pécs’ manifestation, which will be held at multiple locations in Novi Sad.The reception in the City Hall ended when Srđan Kružević, Deputy Mayor of Novi Sad, handed the application material to László Őri, his colleague from Pécs.

The programme continued with opening of the ‘Life of Pécs’ exhibition in the Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Színház.The exhibition consists of 30 photographs taken by Pécs photographers, which show how the city of Pécs enriched its cultural and everyday life since it became the European Capital of Culture in 2010.The opening of the exhibition was accompanied by the performance of the guest duo from Hungary and quartet made of members of the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ symphony orchestra.

The first evening of the ‘Days of Pécs in Novi Sad’ manifestation ended in ‘Piknik’ restaurant at Ribarac, where the concert of ‘Vivát Bacchus’ vocal group was accompanied with tasting of Pécs-Villány wines.

Today at 7 p.m., the manifestation continues with the street concert of the ‘Daniel Speer Brasdance’ in the city centre.The discussion about ‘Legenda o čuvarima Azura’ with Boško Krstić, an author from Subotica and guest of the Pécs writers’ programme in 2008, is planned for tomorrow, the last day of the manifestation.The discussion will be held in the Synagogue, starting at 10 a.m. It will be accompanied by piano music of the students of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Department of Piano.After that, also in the Synagogue, ‘Béla Bartók’ women choir will hold a concert at 11 a.m., and we prepared a surprise for all those who are in the city centre around noon.

We would like to remind that sister cities of Novi Sad and Pécs cooperated in the candidacy process of both cities for the European Capital of Culture, as well as that this cooperation continues through numerous projects.