Déri commemorative room

The year 1920 brought about a decisive turning point in the history of museum affairs in Debrecen. Frigyes Déri was here on 18 October that year for the first time, and announced that he will donate his collection to Debrecen. His wish was that it shall be placed in a Hungarian city which, due to its size and character, was suitable for his collection to become a public treasure of Hungarian culture. He declared: “I donate to Debrecen, as state property, my cultural historical collection, the result of a long and laborious life, in order to promote the education of the public and especially the youth.”

The City Museum, with the donation of Frigyes Déri, became a nationally and internationally prominent museum. The Déri-collection presents every classical culture and subject not with a large number of artefacts, but with characteristic and valuable works of art. The collection, besides the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Mongolian, and Indian material, contains exceptionally rich groups of artefacts of weaponry, numismatics, and fine arts. With this donation Frigyes Déri made Debrecen unique amongst the country’s museums. 

You can read more about the museum affairs in Debrecen and Frigyes Déri on our website by clicking on the link.