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Hungarian-Chinese media forumwas organized in 2015 for the

sixty-fifth anniversary of the commencement of Hungarian-

Chinese diplomatic relations in the framework of the policy

of ‘Eastern Opening’ as well as enabling the publication of

books in Chinese by young novelists in the ‘Flash Fiction –

Flash Europa 28’ project implemented in cooperation with the

Hungarian Academy of Arts. István Fischer and the Budapest

Festival Music Band were well received and had great success

at crowded concert halls from Hong Kong to Taipei in 2014.

Also in 2014 the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted

by Zoltán Kocsis gave a concert in one of the most prominent

Turkish concert halls, the

İş

Sanat Istanbul Hall. In 2013 the

programme of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, ‘Hungarian

Rhapsody – America’ was performed more than 70 times in

the USA and Canada. We hold our cultural ties with Israel

dearly, and this is proven by continuous guest performances

at the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre, the Honvéd

male choir and the Vígszínház, among other things.

The state, church and public-private collections, libraries,

museums and archives keep numerous documents and works

of art originating from distant cultures. The material remains

of South American Indians at the Museum of Ethnography, the

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian

and Islamic collection of the Hopp Ferenc Asian Museum of

Art, and the Tibetan, Turkish and Hebrew documents as well

as the Buddhist and Manichean manuscripts of the Eastern

Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences are of

outstanding value to the cultural legacy of mankind.

Our large public collections are continuously working in

cooperation with the relevant institutions of distant countries.

In this context numerous significant exhibitions have been

realized in recent years (Museum of Ethnography: Egy hánya-

tott sorsú vidék: ‘Tóhoku kézm

ves hagyománya’ – Japanese

folk art exhibition; ‘Vietnami porcelán’ – Vietnamese porce-

lain: a fragile remembering; Museum of Applied Arts: ‘Két

korszak határán’ – Persian arts in the Qajar era).

Besides our native language and literature, our national

culture is the most idiosyncratic, but within that Hungarian

music and folk art are the most easily received by the outside

world. In 2011 the Hungarian model of preserving folklore,

the Táncház method, was recognized by UNESCO as one of

the elements on the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices

for intangible cultural heritage. This model, serving as a refer-

ence to the preservation of the musical native language of

other peoples and to ‘reusing’ the rapidly declining reserve of

heritage of mankind, could not be devised without our world-

famous composers and scientists of the twentieth century,

Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. Its creation and international

recognition contributed significantly to Budapest being given

the opportunity to host the World Music Expo (WOMEX).

The number one representative international event of folk

and world music, WOMEX is recognized by UNESCO as the

event for the preservation of cultural diversity. After Berlin,

Thessaloniki, Copenhagen, Brussels, Marseille and other

cities, Budapest will receive nearly 70 performers, music

bands and approximately 2,500 guests from around the globe.

An international event of similar renown is the Europa

Cantat festival, founded in 1961, which will take place in Pécs

this year. Europa Cantat puts the emphasis on gaining a better

understanding of each other’s cultures, international recon-

ciliation and the creation of common artistic productions.

Participants from approximately 40 countries will come to the

10-day-long international choir festival, which is organized

every three years and attracts some three thousand singers

who will work together in 50 musical workshops.

Nowadays, we may feel that the coexistence of cultures is

not always smooth and free of problems. We, Hungarians,

through our good practices developed over 1,000 years,

have proved that cultures can approach each other peace-

fully and affect one another productively. A special mindset

became an integral part of our culture, in that if we face a

challenge we try to find a solution relying on our traditions

and through our characteristic national approach. The seeds

of this special approach are the values that are important for

every person, which can also inspire people to joint action.

Work and everything that strengthens families are considered

our fundamental values, as well as efforts that provide families

with a home, preserve health and ensure that the order needed

to keep our values is maintained. We believe that the main

reason and goal of organizing people into a society is ethical

cooperation. This is a shared interest that may not be over-

written by any individual or particular group interest, and we

believe that an ethical cooperation based on mutual respect is

the foundation of a true rapprochement of cultures.

Over the years, waves of migration from all directions have contributed to

Hungary’s cultural diversity

Image: György Mánfai

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