In her remarks before she presented the highest Hungarian state awards on the occasion of the 20 August national holiday, President of the Republic Katalin Novák stated: ‘We need role models with whom we speak the same language, with whom we share a common history, who are like us, yet more and better than us, whom we can look up to while recognising ourselves in them.’

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.