Page 58 - BSAM 2016 Q3

CanYouSay
Székesfehérvár?
European Bonsai
& Suiseki Convention 2016 in Hungary
inhabitants. It has a great history as a royal seat, crown city and historical capital with the ruins of a coronation church where 36 kings were crowned. In medieval Hungary, only kings who had the crown of St. Stephan placed on his head by the archbishop of Székesfehérvár, were recognized as legitimate rulers.
e medieval, baroque, rococo architectural relics give evidence of the history. e renovated inner city with its main street—a pedestrian street—invite visitors to stroll along, to have a cup of co ee, beer or wine and to enjoy some sweets or a tasty dish of traditional Hungarian cuisine.
e convention took place from 20th to 22nd May. e opening ceremony on Friday evening began with taiko drummers and was followed by speeches of the city mayor and the presidents of the European Bonsai Association, the European Suiseki Association and the Hungarian Bonsai Association. On Saturday the Euro- pean New Talent Contest (NTC), bonsai demonstrations and a Suiseki lecture were conducted. irteen candidates of the national winners participated in the European contest. e winner of the European contest was Dan Snipes from the Netherlands. e second place went to Rene Sukar from Austria, and the third to Andrea Junger from Germany.
In total there were shown 97 bonsai in the exhibition, from that 65 trees of EBA countries. Bonsai from Hungarian bonsai clubs were exhibited in a separate room.
56 | BCI | July/August/September 2016
The name of the venue of this year’s European convention is nearly in- expressible for non-native speakers and in addition is quasi unknown in western European countries. Nevertheless Székesfehérvár (see-kesh-fay- here-far), located in central Hungary and capital in the Middle Ages, is one of the largest cities of the country with a population of about 100 000
Photos and Text by Gudrun Benz, Germany
Top; Main square with bishop’s palace and orb (Reichsapfel) as well as St. Hans von Nepomuki church in the distance.
Inset; The vendor area o ering bonsai-related items. Photo by Antli István.
Right inset and bottom; Views into the exhibition. The exhibition was well attended. Each exhibit was lit by two overhead lights.