Hungarian Conservative

To address the housing shortage, nearly 1 million dwellings were built under the housing programme between 1961 and 1975, 300,000 of them in Budapest; and a large part of the country’s population still lives in the apartments built during that period to this very day. Despite the difficulties and the negative aspects, anyone who has lived in or visited a prefab will never forget it. Public housing cannot be said to be entirely negative or positive, can be loved or disliked, but it is a legacy from the past that defines who we are.

The documentary will be premiered to the public on 14 June at the MOZ.GO Hungarian Film Festival, and is also expected to be available on streaming platforms.

The museum, designed by Marcel Ferencz, received a gold medal at the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious international real estate developer awards. Another notable project within the Liget Budapest Project, the House of Music Hungary, designed by Japanese star architect Sou Fujimoto, also received an award.

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.

The Budapest Architecture Film Festival is held between 7 and 10 March at the Toldi Cinema. This year’s motto, People Behind, highlights the numerous and passionate creative individuals who work behind the scenes in the construction of buildings and cities.

Perhaps the best-known and one of the most beautiful buildings in Ferenciek tere (Square of the Franciscans) in Budapest, the Párisi Passage, has been recently renovated and its original beauty restored. The history of the magnificent edifice dates back to the early 19th century.

The American Conservative contributor Catesby Leigh wrote a lengthy article in the major American paper The Wall Street Journal, praising the beauty and majesty of the word-famous House of Parliament in Budapest.

In the statement, it was revealed that in a public vote by the renowned international newspaper, which boasts nearly 200 million readers worldwide, the Hungarian institution realized within the Liget Budapest Project joined the ranks of eminent landmarks such as the Roman amphitheatre in Spain, Hadrian’s Wall in England, or Kronborg Castle in Denmark.

This autumn, the Hungarian parliament declared 16 December, the birthday of architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician Károly Kós, the Day of Hungarian Architecture. The Kós Károly Lifetime Achievement Prize, presented for the first time, was awarded to Sándor Dévényi.

Originally a Greek-built temple, now known as the cathedral of the Moscow Patriarchate, is one of the most iconic buildings on the Pest side of Budapest, right on the bank of the Danube River.

The German version of the travel blog Weloveholidays has compiled the nine most popular castles in Europe, based on Instagram posts and TripAdvisor reviews, for the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company’s foundation. The Buda Castle ended up being ranked #8.

Since the stadium is located within a rural community, the impact of its external facades may be limited. However, its internal architecture, expressed through elements such as soaring roof extensions that break the monotony of the exterior shell, creates an intimate and captivating atmosphere. These glimpses into the arena’s interior offer an enticing taste of the intense battles happening on the ‘pitch.’

To mark the completion of the renovation of the Roman Catholic church, built in 1737, a mass was celebrated by Bishop of Székesfehérvár Antal Spányi. In his remarks at the Tárnok church, State Secretary Miklós Soltész lauded the collaborative effort that made the renovation project possible.

The recent article by Máté Sibrányi and Gábor Virágos in the Kommentár magazine outlines the importance of preserving our architectural heritage, and charting more of our church ruins. According to the authors, these ruins are part of our Christian heritage, and therefore deserve more attention.

In 1881, the Hungarian State Railways started building the new railway station at a changed location, near Kerepesi Road, at present-day Baross Square. The construction of the Central Passenger Hall was overseen by Gyula Rochlitz, an architect and MÁV supervisor whose designs were also used for the construction of the Hungarian State Railways headquarters on Andrássy Avenue and the first Danube connecting bridge.

At this year’s MCC Feszt, a now traditional music festival and intellectual gathering for conservative-minded young and not-so-young audiences, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and US conservative political commentator and media host Michael Knowles will also be among the speakers.

‘J.R.R. Tolkien was an author, and Imre Makovecz was an architect. But while they may be divided by their crafts,

the two men were, I argue, united in spirit.

Both Tolkien and Makovecz saw in the modern world that something had gone awry; that something had been lost. Both figures knew that they could not resurrect the dead, or bring the long-lost past back to life, but they could reimagine it in a way particular to them and the unique talents they possessed.’

If someone has not been to the fortresses and palaces of Hungary in the last 20 or 30 years, and is just now returning to see the biggest attractions, they are definitely in for a big surprise, seeing how much has been completely renovated over the years.

The most characteristic sights of Budapest are its iconic Art Nouveau buildings—in almost all of the grey streets of our capital, we can find at least a few colourful Art Nouveau edifices, as well as the different forms and cultural traditions of its eras.

According to Walter Gropius, the ‘idea of the Bauhaus’ provides an artist with the skills with which he can occupy his place in the (machinery) industrial society. Let’s take a closer look at how this trend shaped the image of the Hungarian capital.

A renaissance of exceptional Hungarian architecture is good news not only for art lovers, but also because great buildings create connections and build community.

It is not only the architectural heritage of the capital city that the Fidesz government has been eager to preserve, but that of the countryside as well.

The conquerors shaped Hungarian cities and architecture: Christian temples were redesigned as mosques, new minarets and spas were built.

The Hungarian Museum of Ethnography moves to a building custom-designed for it for the first time in its one-hundred-and-fifty-year history. The new building in the Hungarian capital is one of the top products of contemporary architecture.

‘Complex simplicity’, was the catch-phrase picked by a critic to sum up the work of the Japanese architect, and this complex simplicity is indeed manifested in the House of Music, Hungary.  

Scruton traced back our classical understanding of beauty to the Enlightenment period, and argued that in our increasingly secular world beauty is a path back to the transcendent.

This is Budapest: a big city that dreamed and then built for itself a colourful past during the last decades of the old world, in those final moments before the dawn of modernism.