Hungary to mark 500th anniversary of Reformation with 400 events in 2017

Budapest, December 29 (MTI) – Close to 400 programmes will be organised by Hungary in 2017 to mark the 500th anniversary of Reformation in Europe, a government commissioner said on Thursday.

The series of events will open with an arts performance in Budapest’s Palace of Arts (Müpa) on January 6, Károly Hafenscher, the head of the organising committee, told MTI.

On April 25 a rock version of Handel’s oratorio Messiah will be performed in the Müpa, he said.

A large-scale exhibition presenting the history of protestant Reformation and its influence on Europe and Hungary will open in the Hungarian National Museum on April 26, he added.

Wittenberg, the birthplace of Reformation, will host Hungarian Days from August 24 and 27, including a conference, an exhibition and a concert, the commissioner said.

Hafenscher noted that Reformation had spread to Hungary fairly quickly as compared with other parts of Europe because at the time over a 1,000 students from the Carpathian Basin studied at the University of Wittenberg where they had direct contact with Martin Luther and his collaborator, Philipp Melanchthon.

Further programmes during the year will include a commemorative session in Hungarian Parliament’s upper chamber on October 5 and a joint session of the synods of the Lutheran and the Reformed churches on October 13.

In a major event, a large-scale arts festival will be held in the Budapest László Papp Sports Arena on October 31, which 13,000 people are expected to attend.

The budget earmarked for next year’s anniversary events is 1 billion forints (EUR 3.2m), the commissioner said.

Source: MTI