Multi-day Event Commemorates Heroic Hungarian Victory over the Ottomans

MTI-Hungary Today 2024.07.15.

A musical parade, concerts, medieval weapons and military demonstrations, a craft fair and children’s programs will commemorate the Hungarian triumph at the Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade, Serbia) in Szeged (southern Hungary), the organizers announced.

The cultural program will start on Thursday in the Franciscan Church and Monastery of Szeged, where excerpts from Zsolt Kálmán’s oratorio Tűzjelek will be performed. On Friday, the Visitors’ Center of the Votive Church and Cathedral of Our Lady of Hungary will host Hungarian-Turkish cultural programs, including a panel discussion on musical relations, a fabulous Turkish shadow play and a Turkish folk music concert.

On Saturday morning, those interested will gather in Klauzál Square, and then the procession – with musicians, drummers, flag-wavers – will march to the Franciscan Church and Monastery, where they will be treated to a children’s horse riding tournament, a craft fair and craft activities, a “dragon trail” interactive game and live role-playing, among other programs.

Visitors will be able to admire the costumes and weapons up close, and experience what life was like in the camps of the Black Army of Hungary during the rule of Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490).

In addition to a jousting, medieval weapons and military demonstrations, members of traditional associations will perform dance, concerts and puppet shows. The public will also be able to learn about buhurt (historical medieval battles), in which competitors test their strength and skill in a fenced enclosure under the supervision of judges.

In the early evening, the Sárkánykönny Együttes will give a concert, followed by a fire juggling performance by the Fire Fantasy group.

The program will continue on July 22 with a lecture by Sándor Hollósi Buth, who will tell the story of the Hunyadi and Jagiellonian periods.

Sándor Wagner: The Self- Sacrifice of Titusz Dugovics (1853). Photo via Wikipedia

Fact

The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Siege of Belgrade) was a military blockade of Belgrade that occurred between July 4 and 22, 1456. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror rallied his resources to subjugate the Kingdom of Hungary. His immediate target was the border fort of the town of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár). John Hunyadi, the Count of Temes and Captain-general of Hungary, who had fought many battles against the Turks in the previous two decades, prepared the defense of the fortress. The siege escalated into a major battle, during which Hunyadi led a sudden counterattack that overran the Ottoman camp, and eventually forced the wounded Mehmed II to lift the siege and retreat. The battle had significant consequences, as it stabilized the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary for more than half a century and thus considerably delayed the Ottoman Advance in Europe.

In 2011, the National Assembly declared July 22 as the day of commemoration of Siege of Nándorfehérvár.

In 2006, on the 550th anniversary of the Siege of Nándorfehérvár, the staff of the Franciscan Church and Monastery of Szeged organized the first event to

commemorate the victory of John Hunyadi over the Turks, with the intention of paying tribute to our world-renowned victories in addition to the unfortunately large number of national days of mourning.

In 1455, John of Capistrano arrived in Hungary to build a broad Christian coalition against the Turks. In the summer of 1456, the crusaders led by him, marching southwards to the camp of John Hunyadi to help him defend Nándorfehérvár, stopped at the Franciscan Church and Monastery of Szeged, hence the commemoration program has a direct link with the historical event through the location of the monastery.

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Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Törőcsik Franciska