Minister calls culture key for identity, marking Day of Hungarian Culture

In this spirit, Janos Csak called it important “to move all the tangible, intellectual, musical and literary treasures of Hungarian culture to the world’s digital network”, which he said was of as great significance for the existence and survival of the Hungarian nation as the conversion to Christianity had been 1,100 years ago.

“With ten million Hungarians living here, and altogether 15 million around the world, the task for the state and the minister in charge can be nothing other than giving backing to those who want to preserve this culture,” he told public cultural TV channel M5.

The minister said “the woke and cancel culture of the Western world” was aimed at “eradicating traditions”, adding that without “cultural spaces”, religion, philosophy, the arts and science, “culture will be lost”.

He noted that the government had spent over 1.5 billion euros on “building cultural infrastructure” between 2015 and 2023 and had supported cultural projects for Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin and in the diaspora.

Hungary this year will celebrate the 145th birth anniversary of writer Zsigmond Moricz, the 50th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube and the 30th anniversary of great piano virtuoso Gyorgy Cziffra’s death, said the minister.

A state award named after jazz legend Bela Szakcsi Lakatos will be established to recognise outstanding achievements in Hungarian jazz and to support young talents, Csak said, adding that it would be presented first in 2025.

January 22 was declared the Day of Hungarian Culture in 1989, marking the day when poet Ferenc Kolcsey finalised the text that later became Hungary’s national anthem in 1823.