Gulyas: ‘Culture, like peace, connects us’

“Culture … does not destroy and tear us apart,” Gulyas said at the commemoration organised by the Pazmaneum Association. “Neither does it rewrite history or names engraved on tombstones or events in history books.”

“When we nurture our culture, we thereby also nurture our cohesion. Every community has their own culture and every culture will only live as long as its community will make it thrive,” he said.

Gulyas gave a brief summary of the history of the Hungarian national anthem Himnusz (Hymn), commemorating the 200th anniversary of its composition by poet Ferenc Kolcsey, saying it “had been with Hungarians all along” throughout the nation’s history.

“The national anthem, our national prayer to God, is here with us in the 21st century. By reciting Kolcsey’s lines we symbolically celebrate Hungarian culture, everything that we dream of in Hungarian and what has been created by our Hungarian-speaking national community over several centuries…” he said.