ZSOLT NEMETH OPENS EXHIBITION ON ARMENIAN CULTURE IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN
Hungarian Official News Digest
April 11, 2013 Thursday 11:26 AM EST
It is easy to see the parallels between the histories of the Armenian
and Hungarian nations - said Zsolt Nemeth, Parliamentary State
Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the opening of
the exhibition entitled ~DFar from Ararat - Armenian Culture in the
Carpathian Basin' on April 5. The event was attended, among others,
by Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Laszlo Kover and President of
the Armenian-Hungarian Cultural Association in Yerevan Anahit Simonyan.
The Hungarian Parliamentary State Secretary stressed that both nations
suffered significantly in the storms of history, and millions of
Armenians and Hungarians had to flee and eventually spread all over
the world; moreover, both countries had been devastated by the Tartars
and both had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and later, by the
Soviet Union.
The exhibition offers an excellent overview of how the Armenians
had integrated into Hungarian society and how they made their own
contribution. For instance, more than 70 Armenian military officers
fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49, and such notable
Hungarians as 1956 revolutionary Gergely Pongratz, the painter Simon
Hollosy, the composer Pongrac Kacsoh and the famous photographer
George Brassai were of Armenian origin.
Zsolt Nemeth declared that the Armenians living in the diaspora
exemplify that national identity could be preserved even without
keeping the mother tongue. Today, this fact inspires the Hungarian
Government in its - rather successful - attempt to include Hungarians
living outside the country's borders in the legal and cultural life
of the mother country, he added.
The Hungarian State Secretary expressed his hope that bilateral
relations between Hungary and Armenia would be resolved and would
again reflect the friendship that had always characterized relations
between the two nations.
While the exhibition, which has been organized under the aegis of the
Budapest Spring Festival, focuses on the history of Armenians within
the Carpathian basin, it also touches on the most important elements
of Armenian identity: Mount Ararat, the conversion to Christianity
in the fourth century and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by
Mesrop Mashtots.
The exhibition also displays books and artefacts from the collections
of eighteenth century Armenian churches in Transylvania that have never
been put on display at international exhibitions before. The exhibition
can be visited at the Budapest Historical Museum until September 15.
Hungarian Official News Digest
April 11, 2013 Thursday 11:26 AM EST
It is easy to see the parallels between the histories of the Armenian
and Hungarian nations - said Zsolt Nemeth, Parliamentary State
Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the opening of
the exhibition entitled ~DFar from Ararat - Armenian Culture in the
Carpathian Basin' on April 5. The event was attended, among others,
by Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Laszlo Kover and President of
the Armenian-Hungarian Cultural Association in Yerevan Anahit Simonyan.
The Hungarian Parliamentary State Secretary stressed that both nations
suffered significantly in the storms of history, and millions of
Armenians and Hungarians had to flee and eventually spread all over
the world; moreover, both countries had been devastated by the Tartars
and both had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and later, by the
Soviet Union.
The exhibition offers an excellent overview of how the Armenians
had integrated into Hungarian society and how they made their own
contribution. For instance, more than 70 Armenian military officers
fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49, and such notable
Hungarians as 1956 revolutionary Gergely Pongratz, the painter Simon
Hollosy, the composer Pongrac Kacsoh and the famous photographer
George Brassai were of Armenian origin.
Zsolt Nemeth declared that the Armenians living in the diaspora
exemplify that national identity could be preserved even without
keeping the mother tongue. Today, this fact inspires the Hungarian
Government in its - rather successful - attempt to include Hungarians
living outside the country's borders in the legal and cultural life
of the mother country, he added.
The Hungarian State Secretary expressed his hope that bilateral
relations between Hungary and Armenia would be resolved and would
again reflect the friendship that had always characterized relations
between the two nations.
While the exhibition, which has been organized under the aegis of the
Budapest Spring Festival, focuses on the history of Armenians within
the Carpathian basin, it also touches on the most important elements
of Armenian identity: Mount Ararat, the conversion to Christianity
in the fourth century and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by
Mesrop Mashtots.
The exhibition also displays books and artefacts from the collections
of eighteenth century Armenian churches in Transylvania that have never
been put on display at international exhibitions before. The exhibition
can be visited at the Budapest Historical Museum until September 15.