2017 to be year of major cultural investments, says Hungarian government

Budapest, January 15 (MTI) – The year ahead will be one of major cultural investments in Hungary, with the government set to spend more than 125 billion forints (EUR 406.2m) on cultural projects compared with the 52 billion forints spent last year, the human resources minister said on Sunday.

Major construction projects set to be carried out this year include the construction of a museum quarter in the City Park, the reconstruction of the garden of the National Museum, the refurbishment of the Eiffel Hall, an old railway building in Budapest’s 10th district to serve as a base and storage facility for the soon-to-be renovated State Opera House, and the refurbishment of Budapest’s Museum of Applied Arts, Zoltán Balog told public television.

Regarding Hungary’s memorial year marking the 500th anniversary of Reformation in Europe, Balog said Hungarians were more keen on preserving the cultural values that “made this continent great” than western European nations. “The cultural axis in Europe has shifted,” he said, adding that the migration crisis had also demonstrated that Hungary was more committed to preserving Europe’s cultural-historical heritage rooted in Christianity than other countries. The minister said the Reformation had resulted in a new form of communication in Europe and helped the continent break away from a language “which had prohibited calling things by their name”.

Balog noted that last year UNESCO added the Kodaly method of music education to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. He said this was a major success for Hungary, adding, at the same time, that while the method is well-known across the world, Hungary has a lot of ground to make up in its music education.

He said the government had supported about one thousand events paying tribute to the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising last year, adding that the commemoration events had never reached as many people as they did during the 60th anniversary of the revolution.

Photo: MTI/Human Resorces Ministry of Hungary

Source: MTI