Pan-European Picnic Memorial Site and Academic Memorial Forest
A defining event in the 20th-century European history took place here, which accelerated the reunification of Europe that had been divided by the Iron Curtain.
You can find the Pan-European Picnic Memorial directly at the border near Sopronpuszta, 5 km from Sopronkőhida. On 19 August 1989 near Sopron, hundreds of East German citizens broke through the gate of the "Iron Curtain" in connection with the Pan-European Picnic event. At the venue of the world-famous event, the TAEG Forestry established a Memorial Park together with the Pan-European Picnic '89 Foundation.
The memorial park created at the site of the breakthrough and the Visitor Centre, which was handed over in 2019 to mark the 30th anniversary, are a worthy memorial to the outstanding historical event. In 2015, the memorial park was the first location in Hungary to receive the title of European Cultural Heritage.
The central elements of the memorial park are Miklós Melocco's statue composition named “Breakthrough” and the Pan-European Picnic Visitor Centre, which was opened in August 2019 for the 30th anniversary of the breakthrough, where there is an exhibition as well. The Academic Memorial Forest is located across the Picnic Road, opposite the Pan-European Picnic Memorial. It was established in 2000, on the 175th anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by Hungarian foresters planting small-leaved lindens. Since then, the Heads of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences have been planting a tree every year on 3 November that is the Day of Hungarian Science, remembering the offer of Count István Széchenyi for the benefit of Hungarian science.
The Visitor Center is open from March 29, 2024: every day from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
