On Friday, the seventh decorative stone will be inaugurated on Egri Csillag Sétány, and this time for the first time a star will be placed on Érsek utca in the science category. The star is named after Dr. Istvan Petsky, the Széchenyi Prize-winning historian of literature and culture, a regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and an honorary citizen of Eger and Debrecen. The famous academic will personally participate in the event.
The latest star, which will be delivered on Friday, is also made with a non-slip design, as city dwellers and tourists visiting the Eiger are accustomed to.
The new star will be put in place on Thursday, but the opening will take place on Friday at 4 p.m. at the end of Érsek utca toward Dobó tér.
First, a star named after singer Katie Kovacs was placed on the cornice, then Olympic water polo players Peter Beerus, Norbert Madaras, Denis Boucek and Zoltan Sexy followed. Subsequently, Marie Turichek became the national representative, the cherished memory of Dr. Gyorgy Ringelhan, the Eiger’s first Navy-elected mayor, then Torday Terry Kossuth and Marie Gaszay award-winning actress, and most recently Andras Sayek, an Eiger-born Olympic wrestler, have a star on the Corniche.
This year, Eger Sikerért Egyesület plans to launch another decorative stone. At the October show, they want to pay tribute to the work and life path of the famous Eger confectioner Lajos Kopcsik, who recently passed away, by placing the star.
Dr. Istvan Petsky, Széchenyi Prize-winning literary and cultural historian
Istvan Betsky was born in 1941 in Eger. His father is Aladár Bitskey, the namesake of the Eger sports complex. He began his undergraduate studies in 1962 at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Kossuth Lajos in Debrecen (University of Debrecen since 2000), majoring in Hungarian history, receiving a teaching diploma from secondary school in 1967. In his hometown, he began teaching at the Vocational Primary School of the College Egre teacher training, while defending his doctoral thesis at the university in 1970.
In 1972, he was awarded a scholarship (postgraduate course) at the Institute of Literature of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. After completing this (1975), he was invited to the Department of Ancient Hungarian Literature at his former university as Assistant Professor. He was appointed associate professor in 1980, and professor in 1992. In 1981, he became head of the department, and then was appointed director of the Hungarian Institute of Literature and Cultural Studies, which was formed from the literary departments. He led the Institute until 2003, and between 1993 and 2006 he was Head of the Doctoral Program in Hungarian Literature (from 2001 Doctoral School). In 1993 he was elected Dean of the College of Arts, handing over the leadership of the College to his successor in 1998. At the same time, he was elected Chairman of the College’s Qualification Committee, and in 2000 a member of the University’s Science, Doctoral and Qualification Committee. He held both positions until 2005. Professor Emeritus since 2011. In addition, for a decade, he has been involved in teacher training as an invited speaker at the Department of Hungarian Literature at Eszterházy Károly College in Eger. Several of his books and monographs discussed Eiger’s literary and cultural history. In 2011, he was elected an honorary citizen of the Eiger. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from Károly Eszterházy University. In 2022, he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the City of Debrecen.
In addition to his activities in Hungary, he held scholarships in Vienna (1974) and Rome (1975, 1981), between 1984 and 1986 he was a guest lecturer at the University of Vienna, and in 2019 at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
In 1976, he defended his candidate’s thesis in literary studies, and in 1991, he defended his academic doctoral thesis. He became a member of the Committees for Literary Studies and Cultural History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, participated in the work of the Austro-Hungarian Joint Committee. Between 2000 and 2006, he was chair of the Book History Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was elected corresponding member of the Academy in 2004, and a full member in 2013. Between 2008-2014, he was Chairman of the Academic Committee in Debrecen. He was a member of the Department of the Hungarian Society for the History of Literature and the International Society for Hungarian Studies for several terms. His work has won him numerous awards, including the Apáczai Prize (2006), the Fraknói Prize (2012), the Hungarian Officer’s Order of Merit (2013), and the Széchenyi Prize (2018).
Photo: Zeta Merini
