The Danube passport
Photo: Olivia Barta, OVF
On 15 June 2026, we celebrated the International Danube Day – the “birthday” of the Danube, as one of the main organisers, Mónika Jetzin colleague of the Global Water Partnership Hungary Foundation, described it –at the Danube Museum in Esztergom.
International Danube Day is celebrated every June close to the anniversary of the signing of the Danube River Protection Convention (29 June 1994, Sofia), an international agreement established to protect the Danube River. There is a small twist in the story: the Danube countries first started celebrating Danube Day in the 10th anniversary of the Convention, making it a special jubilee occasion.
As Europe’s second longest river, the Danube reasonably occupies a central place in environmental and cultural awareness. Flowing through ten countries – Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine – and four capital cities – Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade – the Danube’s catchment area is one of the continent’s largest and most diverse regions. It connects more than 80 million people geographically, socio-economically, and culturally, making cooperation and strong international relations essential.
Building the temporary dyke is in process
Photo: Olivia Barta, OVF
What Happened at the Danube Museum This Year?
On 15 June, the courtyard of the Danube Museum in Esztergom was filled with institutions somehow related to the Danube and water management. Children could take part in a variety of interactive activities, including a country-flags-and-national-characteristics matching game, memory card games introducing the Danube’s aquatic flora and fauna, flood protection demonstrations, and even the construction of a temporary flood barrier. They could also enjoy board games, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and quizzes. In the museum’s annex building, thanks to the Hermann Ottó Institute, visitors even had the opportunity to touch and observe live crayfish.
Opportunity to stroke a living creature
Photo: Katalin Szabó, OVF
This year, two new institutions joined the “Danube Day community”: the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. At the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy’s stand, children could put on a white laboratory coat and examine different water samples using laboratory equipment.
Examination with laboratory equipment and under microscope
Photo: Emmanuel Okpala, our Nigerian intern
At our own stand, representing the General Directorate of Water Management (OVF), children completed quizzes and worksheets, played memory games and built temporary flood barriers. At the tent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our colleague engaged children in activities while representing the EU Strategy for the Danube Region’s objective of “restoring and maintaining the quality of waters.”
The children received a Danube Passport at the entrance to collect stamps from each activity station. At the end of the event, the completed passports could be exchanged for gift packages.
Once again, this year’s event successfully promoted the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River’s 2026 motto, “Danube Connects Us” as children gained valuable knowledge about the Danube and its rich ecosystem while joyfully learning how the river connects people – from young people to grown-ups – across borders.
More than 150 children took part in the event.
Text, translation: Katalin Szabó, Dániel Szántó, International Department, OVF