< HUNGARY | DEBRECEN: Grand Hotel Aranybika

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Located in the downtown of Debrecen in the neighbourhood of the Big Church, the Grand Hotel Aranybika was built in 1915, in secessionist style according to the plans of Alfréd Hajós, the “Hungarian dolphin”, architect, speed-swimmer, footballer, football game leader, journalist, the captain of the association of the Hungarian football team, and Olympic champion on the very first Olympic games in 1896.

The Hotel name was given after János Bika, the owner of the rock house and the stance, whose family had been the resident of Debrecen since 1536. The estate was bought from him in 1690 by the city. In 1699 the building was transformed into an Inn, and on its one hundred anniversary, a new floor was built on it. Made of iron and coated with copper, the famous sign of the butting bull was placed in the front of the building 11 years later, in 1810. This is how the Inn became Aranybika (Golden bull) Hotel.

The famous Hungarian architect Steindl Imre, who also built the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest, redesigned the Hotel with one floor. The construction was accomplished in 1882, but its capacity proved to be too small thank to the guests staying for overnight. 30 years later, the building was reconstructed. The new eclectic style building was redesigned by Alfréd Hajós together with his co-engineer, Lajos Villányi. The new hotel was passed in 1915, whose typical attic was carved by Italian rock carver masters.

During its long history, Grand Hotel Aranybika welcomed several celebrities: Esterházy Antal, Széchenyi István, Deák Ferenc, Wesselényi Miklós, Vörösmarty Mihály, Kossuth Ferenc (the son of Kossuth Lajos), Móricz Zsigmond (who wrote his last novel here), Horváth Árpád theatre director; after the second world war Dálnoki Miklós Béla kormányelnök, Vásáry István and Nagy Imre secretaries; and recently Bruno Kreisky Austrian and Helmut Kohl German chancellors.

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