Culture

Culture is the nation itself: all the knowledge, beliefs, art, ethics, laws, customs and abilities that an individual acquires and creates as a member of society.

For 1,100 years we have been nurturing Hungarian culture, and with it the Hungarian identity in the heart of Europe. Our artists and scientists, Nobel and Oscar prizewinners and world-famous inventors have all provided and enriched the world with a taste of Hungarian culture. So come and discover what it is like to become part of this vibrant, multifaceted, ancient, and yet modern culture; find out what it’s like to be Magyar!

Hungarian composers, conductors, and singers are known and appreciated throughout the world. Among the greats of the past are Franz Liszt, Béla Bartók, and Zoltán Kodály, while contemporary musicians include the late Sir George Solti, Zoltán Kocsis, Iván Fischer, and Sándor Déki Lakatos Jnr.

Performances of Romani music, an organic part of Hungary’s musical culture, by the 100-Member Gypsy Orchestra or the Rajkó Orchestra are assured continual full houses both at home and abroad.

The opera, operetta, concert halls, musical theatres, churches, the Aggtelek Stalactite Cave, and the recently opened Arts Palace all testify to Hungary being one of the defining centres of European music culture. For lovers of music there is everything from opera and musicals to jazz and modern pop-rock festivals like the “Sziget Festival” to provide an unforgettable experience for every generation.

There are also dozens of excellent museums in Hungary. The Museum of Fine Arts attracts vast crowds to exhibitions of well-known painters like Monet, Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, and van Gogh. The Palace of Exhibitions, the Hungarian National Gallery, the National Museum, the Museum of Applied Arts, the Museum of Ethnography, and the Natural History Museum alone could take days – even weeks to explore.

For something a bit different, the House of Terror Museum recalls the dark extremes of the Communist and Fascist regimes of the first half of the 20th century. The Holocaust Documentation and Memorial Centre is equally sobering and significant; a harsh reminder of the 600,000 victims in Hungary of one of the most shameful times in European history.