Bloomsday in Szombathely

Since when?
In 1994, some playful men of letters and artists, realising the real post-modern touch of a virtual linkage, decided to celebrate 16 June.

And why?
At the beginning of the past century, James Joyce wrote the Odyssey of the modern average citizen imbedded into the events of 16 June 1904, a simple weekday in Dublin. Since the 1950s, this day has been celebrated in Dublin performing the events of the day from the early morning breakfast followed by the strolling through the whole day.

Why exactly in Szombathely?
Because, according to the novel, this town is the birthplace of the father of the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, that is Lipót Virág. It was this idea that helped to launch the events of the Szombathely Bloomsdays that have been organised annually ever since.

As for the venue of the first Bloomsday, the Isis temple of Szombathely was chosen being a fairly sacred space of the ancient Roman town of Savaria. The ruins of the ancient temple radiate both dignity and raggedness. It was here where the performance recalling the spirit and presenting the character of James Joyce started. Joyce, sitting in a barber's chair, was listening to the lines of his own novel, at certain parts of which the background scenery painted on different layers lost one of its foils, until, at the very bottom of the script the word "Szombathely" emerged.
Using Ulysses as an excuse, nearly all forms of art have proved during the past years that they do have something to say to the number of unanswered but articulated and animated questions and life situations asked so frequently since Joyce. Local artists, graphic designers and literary historians: László W. Farkas, Ferenc Masszi, Péter Abajkovits, Ákos Székely, Miklós Kecskés were joined by more and more artists during the years from several communities of Hungary. Ákos Székely and his fellow artists launched the artistic journal "Leopold Bloom." It was followed by the publication of "Dáblin," a thematic graphic folder by Ferenc Kassai, Ferenc Lobler, Ferenc Nádai and Zsolt Tóth Yoka. Famous artists, among them "The Scientists", dr. Máriás, Gábor Tóth, Katalin Molnár, Gyula Kodolányi, Katalin Ladik, Tamás St. Auby have presented their performances. László Najmányi wrote and directed a series of plays specially for the occasion. Concerts were given by the Chen Ensemble, the Anima Sound System and a large number of excellent Hungarian performers of the traditional Irish music.
In the meantime, the Municipality have established an official relationship with the Embassy of the Irish Republic in Budapest.
Research in local history has proved that the Jewish community played an important role in the life of Szombathely at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is not surprising that there was actually a family among them with the surname Bloom (Blum) who lived at 40 Main Square. Today, there is a memorial plaque on the house.

In 2005, with the support of the Irish Embassy, a life-size statue of Joyce was erected on the square. The statue, created by Gábor Veres, a local artist, is stepping out of the wall of the Bloom House as if greeting the passers-by.

During the past few years, Szombathely has joined the large, world-wide family of cities organising Bloomsdays. Two years ago, The Hungarian James Joyce Society was offered the honour to organise the 20th James Joyce Symposium. As a result, Joyce experts coming from all over the world had an opportunity to meet under the motto "The Unions of Joyce" in Budapest,  between 11 and 15 June, 2006 and in Szombathely on 16 June.