Zoltán Kodály's memorial plaque in Gímes

2017 marked the 135th and 50th anniversaries of Zoltán Kodály's birth and death. ; Zoboralja occupied an important place in Zoltán Kodály's life and work. Between 1906 and 1916, he stayed in Gímes several times (in the kindergarten building), and then from there he went on a collecting tour to other villages, Lédec, Kolon, Zséré, Gerencsér and Csitár. Kodály wrote 147 choral works, 78 of which were for children's choirs. Many of these immortalize folk traditions, such as the villőzés, the pünkösdölő, and the Gergely-járás. Perhaps few people know that Kodály collected 947 folk songs in Zoboralja. ; The Hungarians of Gímes had already expressed a demand for a memorial plaque, but this did not meet the expectations of certain circles. For example, in the early 2010s, a public initiative wanted to have a memorial plaque erected on the kindergarten building, which would have advertised the folk song collections conducted by Zoltán Kodály in this building. The Slovak representatives of the village did not vote for this initiative, because some Slovak parents, who sent their children to this kindergarten, spoke out against the erection of the memorial plaque, stating that they were unwilling to accept that the Slovak kindergarten building, in which their children were growing up, should have a memorial plaque for a person who was born in Hungary… ; Finally, on the third attempt, permission was obtained, and the plaque, which was placed on the wall of the community center, was inaugurated in a ceremonial setting on October 8, 2017.