"I saw ice and hail, spoke-wheeled horse-drawn carriages on the street, I was in a tobacco kiosk, in building yards, I made telephone calls with pennies, I stood alongside children in pubs which had been opened in the twenties, I went to courtyards where time had stood still since the 1830s, I saw faces, wrinkles, guardians in motion, eyes, colours, sounds.” This passage faithfully reproduces the historian's path, the beginning of the researcher's journey into the modern society and cultur...al history of the Hungarian Jews, which since the 1990s has seen the publication of some outstanding short stories collections (Three Fingers of an Elderly Lady on My Shoulder, Anderson's Tactics, On Bécsi Street) showcasing the author Gyula Zeke's literary sensibility. Stopped time and a slowed-down existence, the patient contemplation of the writer, his love of Budapest, of the city's countless twists and turns, his necessary knowledge of bygone eras condemned to destruction, its passionate recorder. For decades he has also shown a special affection and close ties with the Budapest coffeehouse culture, both its past and present. In a collaboration with Frankl Aliona, Café Guide (2005) describes far more coffee houses than you would find in your usual guidebook. Critics full of praise asserted that it would be impossible to contemplate writing the 20th Century history of Budapest without first reading this account of the capital's relationship with espressos and the metaphysical and erotic connotations of coffee-drinking found in the detailed study Mine Was a Black One (2015): "Zeke brings together the rise and fall of Budapest coffee with such care, thoroughness and empathy that the reader is almost there, sitting on a small plastic chair amid puddles of water dripping from hanging, heavy overcoats.”
"Form and respect for tradition, disbelief and sacredness,” said Zeke in an interview, as a kind of personal, metaphysical summary of his work, a possible motto for the special excitement this evening will bring.
Presented by: Müpa Budapest
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.