Did you know that...
- In1996 Hungary celebrated its 1100 anniversary of statehood?
In 896 the seven Magyar tribes with the leadership of chieftain Árpád conquered the Carpathian Basin which was only sparsely settled at the time. The tribes divided the land among themselves and settled from the easternmost foothills of the Alps to the eastern spur of the Carpathian Mountains. According to the legend, the seven chieftains then gathered at a place near the Tisza river in Southeastern Hungary, now called Ópusztaszer, where they took a blood oath to unite into a single nation. Now there is a National Historic Memorial Park at the site, where various exhibits present the life of ordinary Hungarians from the time of the conquer to the beginning of this century.
- Reproductions of two famous paintings by Mihály Munkácsy, Golgotha and Christ before Pilate are on the walls of the St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe?
Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900) was one of the greatest nineteenth century realist painters in Hungary. His works include a wide variety of paintings from scenes of the lives or ordinary peasants to still-lifes, mythological and historical scenes. His overwhelmingly dark colors gives a sad, melancholic overtone to his paintings expressing the widespread pessimism of his times. The original paintings along with the third piece of the Trilogy, after many years, are again together on exhibition in the Déri Museum in Debrecen. Some of his other paintings are in the New York Public Library, Center for the Humanities collection.
- The mission and church in the Acoma Pueblo, or "Sky City", New Mexico, is named after the first Hungarian king, King St. Stephen I.?
King St. Stephen (his original, pagan name was Vajk), the son of chieftain Géza (?-997), was introduced to Christianity in his childhood in his father's court. Yet, he accepted Christianity only after his marriage, and upon his father's death, he was elected as his successor in 997. Later, Pope Sylvester II., acknowledging the young ruler's effort to transform the country to Christianity, gave him a crown. On the first day of the year 1001, Stephen was crowned as the first king of Hungary. He ruled the country with strong hands for 37 years, and with his deep foresight and determination he managed to gain general acceptance of the country by the rather hostile western neighbors.
- The story of the multiple Oscar-winner film, The English Patient, is actually based on the life of László Almásy, a Hungarian explorer and traveler?
He was born in 1895 in Borostyánkö (now Austria) and studied mechanical engineering in London. His first job at the Austrian Steyr automobile company brought him to Afrika to test a new model in the field. He became very interested in the life and culture of the people in Africa, as well as in the still little known parts of the continent. He traveled extensively in the northern part of Africa, in Tanganyika, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Egypt. He explored the Lybian and Nubian deserts, discovered a new oasis (Zarzuran), described new wadis and the paleolithic cave drawings found in the mountains of the Sahara. He traveled mostly by automobiles and airplanes. He is also the founder of sport aviation in Egypt.
The film of course retained very little of the true events of his life, but the character is definitely the same. No surprise why this film is such a success.
- The famous medieval German artist, Albrecht Dürer () was the son of a Hungarian goldsmith who left his hometown, Ajtós, Hungary at the age of 23 to find his fortune in Germany?
- Two Hungarian scientists were among the recipients of the Nobel Prize in 1995?
Back to homepage
Created on 08-16-1997
Last updated on 07-23-1998
