In James Joyce's novel Ulysses – set on 16 June in 1904 – Leopold Bloom is depicted as the only descendant of a Hungarian Jewish family, whose father, Rudolf Virág emigrated from Szombathely through Budapest, Vienna, Milano and London to Dublin. Local history research, lead primarily by Róbert Orbán, discovered that the house at Fő tér 41 in Szombathely belonged to a certain Blum Family in the middle of the 1800s. This way the fictional fact was turned into a real urban memorial place encompassing the Blum-House, a memorial plaque on it, and the James Joyce Statue.
The city in the Ulysses
In the novel, first, it is Brini, a papal nuncio who mentions Szombathely, tracing back the origins of the city to biblical roots:
Then, Bloom's grandfather announces his name and birth place:
At a later point, the narration further clarifies the origins of Bloom:
From the depths of a drawer a document is found, which bears witness to the name change of Rudolf Virág:
Finally, remembering the late Rudolph Bloom, his route of wanderings is also recalled:
(Citations were based on Ulysses, published in 2000 by Penguin Books)
Blum-House
Blum-House got inaugurated by György Feiszt and Derek Hannon on June 16, 1997. According to archival research, from the middle of the 1800s the house served as a home to Márton Blum and his family who rented the building from the tailor Mihály Bossányi.
Memorial Plaque
The memorial plaque placed on the external wall of the Blum-House was designed by Endre András Tornay and got inaugurated on June 16, 1997 by György Feiszt and Derek Hannon. On the memorial plaque the following text can be read: According to James Joyce the leading character of his novel Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, who lived in Dublin, came from Szombathely. In the middle of the 19th century this house was the home of the Blum Family. "Passing from land to land, among peoples, amid events." (Joyce)
Joyce statue
The figural statue of James Joyce, embedded into the wall of Blum-House, was erected on June 16, 2004. The statue, which is the first public statue of James Joyce in Hungary, was created by sculptor Gábor Veres and media artist László Najmányi.
