The Hírös Város Tourist Centre, home to the Leskowsky Musical Instrument Collection, is known throughout Kecskemét as the "City Cinema". It was the first and for more than 80 years the most important cinema in the city. In November 1913, the first and largest cinema in the region at the time, the Városi Mozi, opened its doors. In the neoclassical building, the people of Kecskemét could enjoy the novelty of multi-screen silent films. It was built by the Kecskemét Cinema Theatre Ltd. The building was renovated in 1935 and 1968, the latter time it was rebuilt: the box office, the cafeteria and the cloakroom were moved to a new location, the studio hall was built on the site of the Rákóczi út corridor, with the corresponding pre-screening and screening rooms, the main hall was built on Tolnai u. Tolnai Street with a full-height corridor and the exits on Rákóczi Street, which were removed.
The building has cult significance among the people of Kecskemét. In its heyday, the Városi Mozi was the venue for several full-house performances a day. It was here that most of the city's population first saw a film, and friendships and loves were forged in the most famous meeting place: the cinema stairs. Everybody remembers the lady selling candy in front of the cinema, or the queue from the box office to the courthouse for a new American film (like Batman or Jaws).
This is why it was depressing that the Cinema Company was forced to close the Városi Mozi in December 1999, as multiplexes were gaining ground. In 2007 and 2008, the Kecskemét Fringe and the World Music Festival opened the building, which was in a deplorable state at the time, to the public for one day each. Since then, its condition has only deteriorated, while the main avenue of the city, Rákóczi út, has been renewed. Only the Városi Mozi building stood out in the beautifully restored surroundings.
