In 1908, the Hungarian writer and playwright Ferenc Molnár wrote one of his best works, «A Pál utcai fiúk» («The Boys from Pál Street»). For the 100th anniversary of this outstanding novel, a sculptural composition depicting the opening scene of the story was installed in the city. Three boys are enthusiastically playing marbles, while two teenagers, clearly enemies, watch them.
On the wall next to the boys playing there is an excerpt from the work that describes this very scene. According to the plot, all the heroes of the novel are teenagers fascinated by military themes. Their conversations are filled with commanders, headquarters, flags, seals, orders, reports, protocols, manifestos, etc. But against this background, the boys are transformed into men. The main character — the youngest boy in the whole group — dies defending a just cause (the vacant lot where they play), but in the end it turns out that everything was in vain - the lot was given over for construction.
The story is so touching that the novel served as the basis for several films. In 1934, the film «No Greater Glory» was released and won an award at the Venice Film Festival, and in 1969 the film of the same name «The Boys from Pál Street» was released and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
