Last year marked a "turning point" for the Museum, with the opening of the permanent exhibition in the building that has won numerous international and national awards.Continue reading
Today is the Day of Hungarian Culture, which is celebrated with numerous programs, exhibitions, awards ceremonies, theater performances and concerts across the country and beyond its borders. It has been celebrated on January 22 since 1989, to commemorate the fact that, according to a manuscript, Ferenc Kölcsey finished his poem ‘Himnusz‘, the country’s national anthem, on this day in 1823.
On December 7, 2022, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a resolution to declare January 22 as the official Day of Hungarian Culture. The idea of commemorating the day was first raised by pianist Árpád Fasang in 1985. Finally, the National Council of the Patriotic People’s Front called for the actual celebration of the day at its meeting at the end of December 1988, and in January 1989 they organized the first anniversary celebrations, which have been held annually ever since.
On the Day of Hungarian Culture, the National Archives of Hungary invite visitors to discover its treasures. The institute will display the first edition of Ferenc Kölcsey’s book of poems, including the Himnusz.
O, my God, the Magyar bless
With Thy plenty and good cheer!
With Thine aid his just cause press,
Where his foes to fight appear.
Fate, who for so long did’st frown,
Bring him happy times and ways;
Atoning sorrow hath weighed down
Sins of past and future days.
(The first verse of the Himnusz translated by William N. Loew)
Today, eight people will receive the Hungarian Film Academy’s Gold Medals, that will be awarded for the first time by the film industry association in Budapest, at the Uránia National Film Theater. In the National Theater, this is the tenth year that student actors can take the main stage. For the Feast of Adam and Eve, 290 secondary school students will come to perform a scene based on Old and New Testament passages.
High school students in the National Theater. Photo: MTI/Lakatos Péter
The Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) is organizing a conference, an architectural debate and a gala concert on Wednesday. The Culture Day programs will close with a gala evening at the Pesti Vigadó, where awards will be presented.
The National Center for Circus Arts will hold an open day on Wednesday, with talks, interactive games and a display of circus artifacts. In the Hungarian Circus Art Museum, artists will talk about their lives, careers and families under the title Meeting Generations and Families in Circus Art.
There will also be a wide range of activities in the different counties, including book launches, concerts and exhibitions.
The Day of Hungarian Culture will be celebrated again this year by cultural institutions and organizations from four towns on both sides of the Romanian-Hungarian border – Oradea (Nagyvárad) and Marghita (Margitta) in Romania, and Debrecen and Berettyóújfalu in Hungary.
The television feature film Uncle Vanya – Bubble Waltz will be shown for the first time on public television channel Duna.
The adaptation of the Chekhov play, made by the Thália Theater, will be shown from 9:00 p.m.
On the occasion of the Day of Hungarian Culture, the Szent István Institute appealed to the leaders of Hungarian educational institutions to sing the national prayer together, and not to listen to it only from a recording, as the current institutional practice is very mixed.
Via MTI, Featured photo via MTI/Soós Lajos