Péter Eötvös, one of the most renowned composers of Hungary and also a music teacher and conductor, passed away last Sunday, on 24 March at the age of 80. During his career, he conducted Europe‘s leading orchestras, including the Berlin, Munich, London, Los Angeles, and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The Hungarian national football team secured a 2–0 victory against Kosovo in their preparation match on Tuesday, extending their unbeaten streak to 14 games. The team are scheduled to play two more friendly matches before the European Championship kicks off on 14 June.

This year’s Sziget Festival will take place from 7 to 12 August. Among the headliners announced on Wednesday is American singer Halsey, who has already received three Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award, and has been nominated for a Grammy three times. The superstar is preparing for a new album release this year.

In the upcoming season of Budapest Zoo, the most visited cultural institution and tourist attraction of the country, a diverse programme line-up, new animals, and new or renovated exhibition areas will await visitors.

The latest episode of the BBC’s top-rated business reality show, The Apprentice, showcases the most beautiful sights of Budapest, potentially attracting tens of thousands of British tourists to Hungary.

Among the foods eaten in Italy at Easter, Gianni Annoni highlighted lamb, which is mainly imported from Hungary. He added that eggs are also important, used to decorate savoury cakes, especially in southern Italy, along with spring vegetables and Easter desserts.

Relics of Budapest’s metro will be showcased in a special exhibition space set up in the former dispatcher centre at Deák Ferenc Square station on metro line M2. The exhibition will open this Saturday.

With the early arrival of spring this year, the country’s arboretums and botanical gardens are in full bloom now. Magyar Krónika collected a set of arboretums worth visiting this March.

Hungary’s comprehensive family support system has garnered international attention; in order to become acquainted with the policies of Hungary, family-friendly countries frequently consult with government organizations, including the Mária Kopp Institute for Demography and Families.

In a time when Hollywood seems to be very concerned with not offending anyone, horror films depicting Catholic imagery along with blood and gore are still common—Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney, for example, is being released in theatres this week.

There are about fifty places in Hungary and in Hungarian-inhabited areas beyond the borders where Hollywood filmmakers or actors were born or have ancestral roots. The wall of Hollywood celebrities of Hungarian origin inaugurated in Budapest on 21 March pays tribute to them.

The pontiff mentions his experience with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and the EU bureaucrats in his new autobiography titled Life: My Story Through History, opining that Brussels should ‘respect Hungary’s uniqueness’.

Discussions will be held in foreign languages, with interpretation provided for the audience by the organizers. Books by the authors will also be available for purchase on the spot, with book signings.

The once-forgotten, dusty, and dilapidated sites of Hungary are gradually reopening, providing entertainment, culture, and educational opportunities for visitors and income from tourism for local residents.

The President of the European Council has published a fiery opinion piece ahead of the European Council summit, scheduled to commence on Thursday. The primary conclusion drawn by Michel is that in order to achieve peace, it is imperative to prepare for war against Russia.

Among the nominees for Category B of the New European Bauhaus Prize there is a Hungarian project titled Cooperative Ownership for Communities. It aims to create a multifunctional space by transforming a four-story building in one of Budapest’s old industrial areas. The New European Bauhaus Prizes 2024 Ceremony will be held during the New European Bauhaus Festival in Brussels between 9 and ⁠13 April.

Many examples of resistance to the Nazis were cited by the national committees after the Soviet occupation, in the people’s prosecutors cases and the people’s tribunal cases as well. These materials still need to be explored by Hungarian historians.

Budapest’s recognized initiatives as part of the programme included the car-free weekend organized with the involvement of the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK), as well as the European Car-Free Day held on weekdays, during which Mayor Gergely Karácsony presented plans for the human-friendly and green renewal of the lower embankment of Pest. The programme also included events aimed at showcasing best practices in pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly developments, jointly organized with the city of Vienna, targeting both the general public and professionals.

POLITICO, the mouthpiece of the liberal mainstream, published a very interesting article recently on the war in Ukraine, which came to a completely different conclusion from the previous narrative: it asserted that peace talks will soon become inevitable.

‘Many Christians who hold modernity culpable for the demise of the church and dispersion of the Christian flock join forces with political conservatism, seeing in it their natural political ally and representative, while conservative politicians look upon these groups—and many of their institutional leaders, bishops, evangelists, theologians—as reliable, strong, and loyal supporters.’

Our Lenten traditions include some elements that promote cooperation, while others are about cleaning up our environment or purifying our bodies and souls. By transposing these into the present day we may gather much needed strength in these difficult times.

The film is a valuable contribution to keeping the spirit and memory of the 1848 revolution and freedom fight alive by transforming distant historical figures into flesh and blood people in a credible and compelling way. It deserves merit also because, in a brave move, it attributes a prominent role in the events to Júlia Szendrey, Petőfi’s wife, paying tribute to this tragic-fated woman who became a renowned poet, writer and translator in her later life.

Old-aged men from the Great Hungarian Plain standing or sitting straight up face the camera and indirectly us, the viewers of these portraits today. What was previously only known from history books and clichéd speeches at the 15 March commemorations becomes, when seeing these pictures, the unvarnished truth, a gesture of an encounter with the past.

The cockade is one of the best-known and most significant Hungarian symbols, which has played a decisive role in our history. Over the centuries, the cockade has become an emblem of patriotism and Hungarian identity, which we have proudly worn on all our national holidays ever since the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

This year we commemorate the 176th anniversary of that glorious, rainy day when the revolutionary youth of Pest, joined by many of the good people of Pest and Buda, took to the streets to demand liberty and national sovereignty.

Balázs Orbán’s book, Hussar Cut: The Hungarian Strategy for Connectivity, was presented at the Danube Institute on Wednesday. At the event, alongside the Hungarian Prime Minister’s political director, American researchers explained why the book is a landmark for both Hungary and the United States.

In a recent interview, Minister of Culture János Csák quoted iconic interwar education minister Kuno Klebelsberg, who identified the task of governments as supporting high culture, creating Hungarian great achievements, showcasing them internationally, bringing international great achievements here, but most importantly, taking culture to the broadest sections of the nation. This task can be achieved not through separate entities but through one robust institution, the minister argued.

The new online jazz radio will be launched on International Jazz Day on 30 April. The radio is named in tribute to one of Hungary’s most esteemed jazz artists, pianist and composer Béla Szakcsi Lakatos.

At the opening of the competition final Zsolt Kutnyánszky, State Secretary for Defence Policy, Military Development, and Defence Industry at the Ministry of Defence emphasized that Hungary needs ‘young people who love their country and are willing to make sacrifices for it’ .

Supposed historian Michael Beschloss called PM Viktor Orbán of Hungry a ‘brutal dictator’ in reference to his meeting with Former US President Donald Trump. Rod Dreher, the renowned American columnist living in Budapest wrote a satiric open letter to him in response, drawing attention to the absurdity of that statement.