Romulus Cioflec Memorial House

✨ The idea of establishing the Memorial Center arose immediately after the change of regime, and its history is closely linked to that of the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Cultural Association, founded in 1990. Its visionary was József Gazda, retired teacher, publicist, founder of the association, and now its honorary president. Its designer was Lőrinc Csernyus, an architect and winner of the Kossuth Prize. It took decades of persistent and coordinated work by many good people for the impressive complex of buildings, which combines Eastern and Sekler traditions with organic architecture, built on land donated by the Reformed Church, to be able to welcome visitors in all its splendor. 🌍  🌳 Surrounded by a spacious garden and a parking lot, the ground floor of the two-story main building houses an exhibition on Csoma's life, a conference room, and a library, while the upper floor houses a permanent exhibition of textiles by Gazdáné Olosz Ella and five guest rooms. 🛏️ 📜 The Csoma Memorial Center is a venue for community events, lectures, and conferences, serving as a memorial site, a welcoming community space, and a source of inspiration for all ages. 🤎 📍 Group visits require prior arrangement by telephone.

Find out about the life of Gábor Áron, who played a key role in the 1848-49 War of Independence as a cannon founder and artillery officer. When the Szekler Assembly in Sfântu Gheorghe commissioned him to organise the production of ammunition and military equipment, he not only accepted the task, but said that he would stand in front of his own cast cannon if it failed to hit the target with a test shot. 📍 Prior arrangement by phone is required!

At the priest's lodge next to the reformed church, a memorial to the history of literature awaits you: a plaque indicates that Rózsa Ignácz, who went from being an actress at the National Theatre to a literary career, was born in Covasna. During the Holocaust, the writer and actress was awarded a yellow star in solidarity with the Jews, because she saved people. In the case of groups, there is the possibility to visit the memorial room also outside the schedule, after a prior telephone appointment.

📜 Sándor Csoma, now known to the world as Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, was determined to visit the homeland of the "Asian Hungarians" when he was still a student. In the autumn of 1819, he set off on foot, with little money, for the East; this great journey led to the foundation of Tibetan linguistics, the Tibetan-English dictionary. Visit the Kőrösi Csoma Memorial House to learn more about his childhood, his adventurous journey and his work. 📍 An appointment is required for the visit!

🏠✒️ Bățanii Mici is situated in the northeastern part of Erdővidék, between Bățanii Mari and Herculian. The name of this village is intertwined with the name of the great Hungarian writer and educator, Elek Benedek. His house was built in 1896, in Classicistic style. On the tympanum of the manor house’s veranda with columns you can read the MARI name, which is dedicated to Mária Fischer, the wife of Elek Benedek. The idea of creating an Elek Benedek Memorial House was first suggested by the writer Edgár Balogh and Lajos Sylvester, president of the cultural committee of the county. This idea was also supported by Károly Király, party secretary of the county, and the descendants in Bățanii Mici, Mrs. Flóra (daughter of Elek Benedek), Júlia Bardócz and Dezső Bardócz. The Memorial House was inaugurated on 25 May 1969, which was also the 110th anniversary of the writer’s birth and 40th anniversary of his death.  The building has eight rooms and the exhibition is presented in two of these rooms. The exhibition placed in the large dining room and in the lateral room opening from the dining room was set up by employees of the Szekler National Museum, mainly presenting the materials collected by Mrs. Flóra. The old family pictures, letters and manuscripts are exhibited in the dining room. This is where the one hundred years old tale books and the children magazine collections, like Cimbora (“Friend”), Az Én Újságom (“My Magazine”), Jó Pajtás (“Good Fellow”) are found. The ceiling of the large room is decorated with the beautiful chandelier carved by the wood carver folk artist of Vargyas, Ferenc Máthé. Here we can see the old objects of everyday usage and furniture, beautiful embroideries, many memorial wreaths and memorial books, the woodcuts of László Imets and Bálint Kósa, paintings and tale books that were published in the recent years. The books translated into different languages are exhibited in this room, as well as the theses and dissertations about the life and work of Elek Benedek. In the smaller room on the right side, we find the work room of Elek Benedek, with his original desk, and with all the objects that were there in his time: pen, seal, silver sugar bowl and the last unfinished letter. On the wall behind the desk, we can see the painting of Mór Karvaly that depicts Elek Benedek, and to the right you can see the certificate of the Hungarian Heritage Award given in 2009.  The maintainer of the Memorial House has been the Szekler National Museum since the foundation and for decades, the intellectual and physical legacy has always been taken care by the descendants of the writer. In 1999 the relationship between the Szekler National Museum and the Memorial House terminated and it turned into a private museum. 📍📆 The memorial house is open to visitors from 15 March to 1 November.