Seattle-Pécs Sister Cities Association
“Culture is a window reflecting the history, culture and spiritual world of a nation. Cultural exchange is a bridge to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the people of different nations.“
– Hu Jintao
About SPSCA
Founded in 1991, the Association is composed of individuals and organizations interested in promoting close ties between the people of Seattle and Pécs, Hungary.
Goals
- Advance educational, cultural, and trade relations between Seattle and Pécs.
- Inform and educate the public about our sister city. Promote tourism.
Activities
- Host public officials, community leaders, students, and others from Pécs.
- Conduct exchanges in the field of education, culture, arts, and trade.
- Organize participation in community programs.
- Sponsor social events, such as lectures, concerts, films, sport events, and receptions.
Why Pécs?
- With their beautiful parks, gardens, museums, and churches, Seattle and Pécs are both counted among their countries’ most livable cities.
- Each is proud of its fine universities, delicious food, and friendly people.
- Both cities enjoy a temperate climate, lying nearly on the same latitude, and produce wine and beer of excellent quality.
Our History
After the political changes in 1990, Hungray founded its honorary consulate in Seattle, and appointed Helen Szablya Honorary Consul General. Her– as well as other local Hungarian Americans’– strong ties to Pécs and her first visit there as consul still in 1990 were the roots of a now-flourishing relationship between the two cities. Éva Mikes, deputy mayor of Pécs at that time, had also lived in Seattle for a year. The circumstances were ripe for sisterhood, promoting the people-to-people diplomacy which is the given goal of the sister cities programs nationwide.
In 1991 Seattle mayor Norman B. Rice and Pécs’ mayor Zoltán Krippl signed the agreement formally establising the Seattle-Pécs Sister City Association.
In the past two decades, cultural and educational exchanges, art exhibits, and diplomatic and business visits have contributed to a growing relationship between a vibrant American port and a thousand-year-old Hungarian historical treasure-chest.
Contact
Ágnes Lu-Hódi – Communication Liaison
pecsseattle@hungarianamerican.org