The Cultural Heritage
The Cultural Heritage
Hungary possesses rich cultural heritage, which also constitutes a part of European heritage. The Hungarian nation has always been proud of its movable, architectural, and intellectual heritage, and considers it important that the government devote a major part of the public expenditures to the preservation of such values.
Regarding legislation, this area of the portfolio is currently involved in the drafting of a new law on the preservation of cultural heritage, which is a fundamental requirement for accession to the European Union in terms of law harmonization. The law includes provisions concerning the protection of movable cultural assets and historic buildings, as well as the elements of contemporary legal practice - in line with a European approaches and practice - that are intended to be adopted for the benefit of conserving archaeological heritage. The law provides for the establishment of a new, standard agency devoted to the preservation of the movable and non-movable assets of our cultural heritage. This corresponds to the standard, customer-oriented heritage preservation agency system operating in the majority of the EU member-states. The adoption of an authority network corresponding to the statistical and planning regions is particularly important for the purposes of asserting regionalism.
A number of the international conventions relating to heritage conservation have already been incorporated in Hungary’s legal system. Hungary was among the first to sign Protocol No. 2 to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Assets in the Event of Armed Conflict. Hungarian specialists have been involved in the drafting of an international convention on underwater cultural heritage preservation for the benefit of protecting the elements of cultural heritage that may be present in the country’s fresh waters.
In addition to the “Convention on the Protection of the European Architectural Heritage” signed and proclaimed in Granada (1992), the proclamation of the “European Convention on the Conservation of Archaeological Heritage” (Council of Europe) signed in Malta, is an important milestone.
Like other EU member-states, Hungary deems the involvement of civil organizations in tasks associated with the preservation of cultural heritage quite important. Civil initiatives (friends of castles, historic building preservation clubs, etc.) are given support, which receive major funding from the Ministry’s budget. In addition, the tender subsidization scheme of the National Heritage Program is available to all historic building or monument proprietors.
The majority of Hungary’s movable cultural heritage resides in museums. As at 1 January 2000, 804 licensed museums operated in Hungary, 139 of which served all three functions (public, scientific, and cultural collections), while the rest are made up of public collections or exhibit sites. Nearly 13 million individually registered pieces are housed in their collections. The exhibits of our museums play an important role in Europe’s museum functions. Important scientific research is going on in the country’s museums, giving rise to publications widely acclaimed in professional circles.
In force since 1997, the regulations of Act CXL on Museum Institutions are compliant with the decrees and guidelines drafted by the Council and the Commission on the subject, which refer to the exportation of cultural assets and the repatriation of cultural assets illegally removed from the member states’ territories.
A comprehensive tendering system - whose two main pillars comprise the National Cultural Funding Program (and its applied funds) and the tenders invited by the Ministry of National Cultural Heritage - aids the professional work of the museums.
Hungary has been involved in the EU’s cultural community projects with some quality tenders (e.g., the Raphael Program in 1999). We participated in the Council’s campaign entitled “Europe, Our Common Heritage” with many heritage conservation, museum, and library events.
For the benefit of preserving and promoting our intellectual heritage, we assist traditional activities, folk art and handicrafts fairs, and creative workshops throughout the whole country. The operation of the European Folklore Institute is supported out of budget resources. This institute is capable of mediating our culture to the EU member-states at a high level, in several languages, and through regular publications and conferences.
The preservation of native-language culture is the basis of national culture and education and the token of preserving national identity. Two years ago, the Ministry proposed a native language preservation campaign for this purpose, which drew the attention of many social groups urging them to take responsibility in preserving their mother tongue.
Close attention is paid to the preservation of the cultural activities of minorities in Hungary and to their participation in the majority population’s cultural events. Thus, the amateur and tradition preservation groups of local minorities are regularly featured in our nationwide and regional cultural events. In addition, international minority conferences are organized with the participation of European minority representatives. Moreover, the National Romany Information and Culture Center was established in Budapest with government support.
The continuous retraining of experts working in the cultural sector was regulated and launched in conjunction with the European program entitled “Learning for Life”. The organization of courses and extracurricular training based on the population’s requirements is promoted by our public education institutes, and international conferences are organized in order to familiarize people with European trends in adult education.
The statutory basis for the protection and use of irreplaceable Hungarian reference materials safeguarded in archives came into being with the proclamation of the Act on Public Acts, Public Archives and the Conservation of Private Archive Material (Act LXVI of 1995). The Archives Act is essentially in harmony with the principles contained in the laws of the EU member-states and the relevant EU documents. It should be noted that the regulations pertinent to accessing archive materials are in line with the requirements of European Council Recommendation R (2000) 13, which contains European guidelines for archive research.
Hungary has a well-developed and rich library network. The public and specialized libraries operate a document supply system, which ensures that the library documents are available to the readers of even the remotest of communities. Our telematics project was launched, so that libraries and other public collections can prepare for the challenges presented by information society.
For the benefit of expanding the means of free information access, the Ministry - in line with the national IT strategy - is granting support through a so-called telematics tender to promote the exposure and publication of the cultural heritage safeguarded in public collections such as museums, libraries, and archives through state-of-the-art technology. With the help of this tender, the reference libraries and major public libraries, major museums, and archives now possess advanced IT infrastructure. Progress was made in developing a common computerized catalog for the libraries. The Hungarian Electronic Library is working, and the full text of numerous Hungarian literary pieces is accessible on the Internet. Results have been achieved concerning the digitization and publication of artworks safeguarded in museums. Preparations have been started to digitize the archives’ materials, to store electronic documents, and to implement databases that considerably increase the efficiency of archive research.
Iván Rónai
Head of Division, Cultural Deputy Undersecretary’s Office, Ministry of National Cultural Heritage
Head of Division, Cultural Deputy Undersecretary’s Office, Ministry of National Cultural Heritage
