For generations, the heroic deeds of the defenders of the Eger Castle have given the Hungarian people strength and fortitude. Although the area under Ottoman occupation expanded and, in the following years, the Sultan managed to reassuringly stabilize his presence in the Carpathian Basin, our predecessors could draw strength from the example of Dobó and his army in later years.

His courtly representation, international Gothicism, and the reception of the Renaissance in Hungary can be considered Matthias’ most brilliant achievements, which were also highly appreciated by his contemporaries. It is undoubtedly a unique phenomenon of 15th-century Hungarian history that the Italian Renaissance had such a great impact in the country.

The purpose of Cum hiis superioribus annis, a papal bull issued by Pope Callixtus III in 1456, was to exhort Christians to pray, as the success of the Hungarian crusader army against the Turks was key for the future of Christian Europe at the time. To this day, the noon bell tolls every day to remind us that, as so many times in history, the Kingdom of Hungary stood up valiantly and proved itself one of the bulwarks of Christian Europe.

The mysterious Magyarabs, whose denomination conveniently looks as if it consisted of the words Magyar and Arab (although the exact etymology is different: the word ab means tribe in Nubian), would have probably remained unknown to the world had some adventurous Hungarians not discovered their distant kin. László Almásy, one of the key figures and pioneers of Hungarian Africa research, was the first to report on the existence of Magyarabs after he encountered them during his expedition in Africa in the 1930s.

Thanks to the thermal springs of the capital, Budapest’s spa culture dates back several centuries. In our article, we have collected the historical thermal baths of Budapest, which are popular destinations for both Hungarians and foreigners.