World Heritage Hungary

03/07/2024

27/06/2024

Matyo people's name can be traced back to King Matthias, who in the 15th century raised Mezőkövesd to the status of royal town. The colorfully embroidered flowers, based on old patterns, with which the women adorn their blouses, fabrics and aprons - red on a white or black ground being particularly popular - produce some of the most beautiful articles in Hungarian folklore.

22/06/2024

Living traditional heritage in the cultural space of Kalocsa: Embroidery, ornamental painting, traditional dress and folk dance
The colourful flower motifs of the ornamental painting and embroidery of Kalocsa are known throughout the world and indeed have often been considered an emblematic symbol of Hungarian folk art. This branch of artistic expression has become a unique element of the traditional peasant culture of Kalocsa as well as of the surrounding villages of Drágszél, Homokmégy, Öregcsertő, Szakmár, and Újtelek which were established in�the 18-19th centuries. The ethnic group referred to as Pota inhabiting the area known as Sárköz of Kalocsai in south-central Hungary on the west bank of the Danube is distinct from the surrounding groups in their characteristic dialect, rich folk art and Catholic religion. The women of Kalocsa who still draw, paint and embroider�in the traditional style are the bearers and the perpetuators�of the local heritage. Traditional revival groups, folk dance groups, the local museum and folk art centre all contribute to the safeguarding of the characteristic culture and folk art that distinguishes Kalocsa identity. The inhabitants of Kalocsa and the surrounding settlements are devoted to their folk heritage. They create numerous opportunities for the presentation of their traditional dances and attire: Midsummer Eve Festivities, Danube Folklore Festival, Kalocsa Paprika Festival, village feasts, and harvest celebrations. These events attract people of all ages and provide an excellent opportunity for the transmission of cultural heritage from generation to generation. The role of awareness raising and art education is also of paramount importance in the safeguarding and sustaining of the local heritage.

13/06/2024

13/06/2024

Horseshow on the Hungarian puszta,

09/06/2024

Since its foundation in 1826, the Herend Porcelain Manufactory has been making a wide variety of porcelain sets and ornamental pieces of the highest quality. By today it has become the largest manufacturer of its kind in the world – where, observing centuries-old traditions, every work phase – from throwing to painting – is performed by attentive hands manually even today. With a free combination of 16,000 forms and 4,000 patterns, the product range is inexhaustible. Every piece symbolizes exceptional quality, beauty, and value.

08/06/2024

Zsolnay, or formally Zsolnay Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt is a Hungarian manufacturer of porcelain, tiles, and stoneware. The company introduced the eosin glazing process and pyrogranite ceramics. Their foortiles can be seen everywhere in Budapest on Matthias Churhc, and more. The Zsolnay factory was established by Miklós Zsolnay (1800–1880) in Pécs, Hungary, to produce stoneware and other ceramics in 1853. In 1863, his son, Vilmos Zsolnay (1828–1900) joined the company and became its manager and director after several years. He led the factory to worldwide recognition by demonstrating its innovative products at world fairs and international exhibitions, including the 1873 World Fair in Vienna, then at the 1878 World Fair in Paris, where Zsolnay received a Grand Prix. In 1893, Zsolnay introduced porcelain pieces made of eosin. Zsolnay is active factory even now.

01/06/2024

A Romantic Masterpiece Sculpture: The Prince of Buda and the Princess of Pest, divided by the Danube, yet united in love and history. Situated in the Philosopher's Garden on Gellert Hill, it symbolizes the harmonious union of Budapest in 1873

01/06/2024

The 1000 years old monastery of Panninhalma. The first Benedictine monks settled here in 996. They went on to convert the Hungarians, to found the country's first school and, in 1055, to write the first document in Hungarian. From the time of its founding, this monastic community has promoted culture throughout central Europe. Its 1,000-year history can be seen in the succession of architectural styles of the monastic buildings (the oldest dating from 1224), which still today house a school and the monastic community.

28/05/2024

A museum post office offering traditional and modern postal services opened on Wednesday in Hollókő in an environment worthy of the World Heritage site, offering a glimpse into the 157-year history of Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post).

The new building has the atmosphere of a small 19th century post office, with museum measuring instruments, a post office warehouse from a hundred years ago, a rest garden, a telephone exchange, and postal scenes from the radio cabaret, which can be heard on the telephone set.

Barnabás Balczó, President and CEO of Magyar Posta, stressed at the opening ceremony that Hollókő is not an open-air museum, but a living settlement, and they want the museum post office to be a living service center, offering traditional and modern services to both locals and visitors in a way that is in keeping with the World Heritage environment.

26/05/2024

https://hungarytoday.hu/famous-tokaj-wine-available-at-a-lower-price-abroad/

In the first two months of this year, the average selling price of wines produced and sold domestically rose by 16% compared to January-April last year.

16/05/2024

Hungary - Mátai Ménes/Máta Stud Farm
rThe stud is more than 300 years old. Originally thr nearby Debrecen citys horses were kept here from cca 1700, Later on it bacame one of the official stae owned stud, for breedinf and training race horses. 270 horses are kept here today.

08/05/2024

Enjoy the sunshine in the vineyard, or explore the 18th century Farkasmály cellar row while tasting the current wine selection of the historical wineries. Winemaking here has got a history of more than 500 years, and results the best whize wines if Hungary! You are sure to find your favorite!

08/05/2024

Within the station at Deák Ferenc tér, visitors are welcome at the Underground Railway Museum, which occupies an abandoned section of the tracks with vintage metro carriages, telling the story of this pioneering mode of transport.

04/05/2024

01/05/2024

If you travel to Hungary at the right time of year and you get to the countryside, you might see a May Tree! Here is some information about this tradition, which is still practiced in some areas of Hungary today! When a boy wants to court a gal, he and his friends go into the forest and chop down a tree, remove the bark except a little on top, they tie ribbons on top, and the boy writes a ribbon note to the girl. At night, on May 1st, they plant the tree in her backyard without her knowing. It stays like that for the entire month of May and on the last day of May, her father takes down the tree and now she can read the ribbon note that the boy wrote to her and now she knows who the boy is. Simple?

28/04/2024

The Dobos torta debuted in 1885 at the National General Exhibition in Budapest, where Dobos presided over an elegant pavilion created to showcase the torta, staffed by more than 100 people. Queen Elisabeth and Emperor Franz Joseph were among the crowd who visited his pavilion. “Those present cheered the royal couple, who were served personally by Dobos himself, writes Tibor Éliás in his book Dobos and 19th Century Confectionery in Hungary. “They of course also tasted the latest novelty, after which another royal cheer erupted—this time in honor of the creator of the cake.” Afterwards, Dobos was made a purveyor to the Imperial and Royal Court. reasons. Compared with the tall, intricately-decorated cakes of the time, the Dobos torta, which was simply flat with a smooth caramel top, looked downright minimalistic. The chocolate butter cream spread on the cake layers was also a new concept, and it became Dobos’ signature (and secret) ingredient. The butter cream combined with the hard caramel were innovations which gave the cake a significantly longer shelf-life, without the need for refrigeration (which was a problem at that time, especially for entrepreneurial bakers who wanted to make their products widely available). Dobos brought his cakes with him during his frequent travels in Europe, and shipping the cakes throughout the continent became an important part of his business. He designed special wooden boxes to keep the cakes cool and perfectly intact during their journey, and the Dobos torta was regularly served at social events throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire. https://tastehungary.com/journal/dobos-torta/

31/03/2024

Easter Sunday 2023 Hollóko

30/03/2024

Hungary's Easter traditions

Renowned the world over as a country steeped in tradition, Hungary celebrates Easter weekend in style with delicious food and family gatherings. Easter, or “Húsvét” as it’s known in Hungarian, is one of the most important cultural and Christian traditions celebrated in the country.

Renowned the world over as a country steeped in tradition, Hungary celebrates Easter weekend in style with delicious food and family gatherings.

Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Monday are marked as public holidays in Hungary and the nation has much planned for the weekend.

On Easter Monday, the age-old tradition of “locsolkodás” sees boys and men reciting poems for women and girls then “sprinkling” them with perfume. The tradition is sometimes observed in more dramatic ways with boys chasing after girls with buckets of water!

Painted eggs are also part of Easter tradition in Hungary. Eggs are painted red to symbolize the blood of Christ and other colors are added to produce a more creative design.

As in most Christian countries around the world, the Easter Bunny brings chocolate eggs for the children and hides them around the house and garden. The fun ensues when the children wake up and go hunting for the eggs.

29/03/2024

https://www.chefspencil.com/14-most-popular-hungarian-easter-foods/

Easter is one the biggest holidays in Hungary and food plays an important role in the local traditions and festivities. Fasting is common for religious

14/03/2024

A rakish moustache, a fast horse, a fearless valiant fighter and a fairytale hero: this is the image of the Hungarian Hussar.
Let us look behind the myth and learn about the story of these audacious men who have become Hungarian national symbols as brave warriors for centuries. The term “husserones” was first mentioned in King Matthias’ letter in 1481, as a light cavalry within the royal army. The origin of the word is still not settled, it is assumed to come from the word “húsz” (twenty), since at that time the king’s new decree declared that his subjects were obliged to exhibit a cavalry soldier after every 20 socages. From the time of the Turkish invasion in the 15th century, the Hussars were a significant parts of the royal army, and until the 20th century they formed the Hungarian light cavalry. After the disbanding of Matthias’ legendary corps, the Black Army, the Hussar troops remained together and were partly assigned to the royal troops and the forts. Without them, border defense would have been swayed.

From the 16th century, during the reign of kings from the Hasburg dynasty, the Hussars were fighting in different parts of Europe, but these soldiers were no longer serfs, but mercenary warriors. Thanks to their unique fighting style, they became known in Europe as “Hungarian weapons” and were considered the most effective light-horse regiment of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Over the years, they played a huge role in the defense against the Turks and became indispensable figures in many great battles in Hungarian history. Under the reign of Queen Maria Theresa, they were trained to fight on foot in the field as well and were using pistols and carbines too.

During the fights of the 19th century, including the 1848 War of Independence, they fulfilled their duty with extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice. They fought as true patriots in the battles of World War I, and in World War II they were deployed against modern weapons and tanks. The last Hussar Regiment was active until the end of World War II, and the last Hungarian Hussar of Nyíregyháza was Mihály Tomasovszki.
Hungarians have always had a reputation as a horse nation, the true secret of the Hussars was based largely on their horses’ abilities. The hussar and his light, agile hussar horse were inseparable, loyal companions to each other, and the outcome of each battle depended on the harmony between them. Their unique combat style comes from the ancient Hungarian cavalry military art, the main features of which are misdirection, smart use of terrain, trapping, raiding, remote destruction. Their tricky technique was matched by glorious courage, a way to strike the enemy with unexpected attacks.. In 2017 the Hussar was added to the list of Hungarikums.

10/03/2024

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/474/

The cultural landscape of the Hortobágy Puszta consists of a vast area of plains and wetlands in eastern Hungary. Traditional forms of land use, such as the grazing of domestic animals, have been present in ...

07/03/2024

All about the red dotted!

24/02/2024

For a long time after the appearance of alcohol distilling in 11th-century Europe, the practice within the territory of Hungary was applied to wine and the production of grain alcohol. The history of “aqua vitae” – linked to Queen Elizabeth of Hungary – dates back to the 14th century, and up until the 16th century distilled spirits were classed as medicine. What is now known as “pálinka” has been produced in Hungary from a wide variety of fruits since the middle of the 18th century. Its official description stipulates that pálinka must be fermented from fleshy pitted fruits, fruits without pits or from berries (and from the pulp of these), distilled and bottled in Hungary. Products using concentrates, semi-dried or dried fruits cannot legally be called pálinka. Mashing, fermenting, distillation, ageing and bottling must all take place in Hungary.

24/02/2024

https://www.hungarikum.hu/en/content/p%C3%A1linka

For a long time after the appearance of alcohol distilling in 11th-century Europe, the practice within the territory of Hungary was applied to wine and the production of grain alcohol. The history of “aqua vitae” – linked to Queen Elizabeth of Hungary – dates back to the 14th century, and up...

17/02/2024

Hollókő (Hungarian: [ˈholloːkøː]) is a village in northern Hungary, located in Nógrád County. The village, which was constructed in the 13th century and developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is a well-preserved ethnographic village of the Palóc people, with traditional wooden architecture and layout of buildings, farms, and orchards.[1] Because of its exceptional preservation and testimony to rural life before the arrival of modern farming practices, the village was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Its name means "Raven-stone" in Hungarian.Hollókő (Hungarian: [ˈholloːkøː]) is a village in northern Hungary, located in Nógrád County. The village, which was constructed in the 13th century and developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is a well-preserved ethnographic village of the Palóc people, with traditional wooden architecture and layout of buildings, farms, and orchards. Because of its exceptional preservation and testimony to rural life before the arrival of modern farming practices, the village was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Its name means "Raven-stone" in Hungarian.

15/02/2024

https://www.hungarikum.hu/en/content/hungarian-acacia-honey
HUNGARIAN ACACIA HONEY