It is easy to see the parallels between the histories of the Armenian and Hungarian nations – said Zsolt Németh, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the opening of the exhibition entitled „Far from Ararat – Armenian Culture in the Carpathian Basin” on April 5. The event was attended, among others, by Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament László Kövér and President of the Armenian-Hungarian Cultural Association in Yerevan Anahit Simonyan.
The Hungarian Parliamentary State Secretary stressed that both nations suffered significantly in the storms of history, and millions of Armenians and Hungarians had to flee and eventually spread all over the world; moreover, both countries had been devastated by the Tartars and both had been conquered by the Ottoman Empire, and later, by the Soviet Union.
The exhibition offers an excellent overview of how the Armenians had integrated into Hungarian society and how they made their own contribution. For instance, more than 70 Armenian military officers fought in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49, and such notable Hungarians as 1956 revolutionary Gergely Pongrátz, the painter Simon Hollósy, the composer Pongrác Kacsóh and the famous photographer George Brassai were of Armenian origin.
Zsolt Németh declared that the Armenians living in the diaspora exemplify that national identity could be preserved even without keeping the mother tongue. Today, this fact inspires the Hungarian Government in its – rather successful – attempt to include Hungarians living outside the country's borders in the legal and cultural life of the mother country, he added.
The Hungarian State Secretary expressed his hope that bilateral relations between Hungary and Armenia would be resolved and would again reflect the friendship that had always characterized relations between the two nations. While the exhibition, which has been organized under the aegis of the Budapest Spring Festival, focuses on the history of Armenians within the Carpathian basin, it also touches on the most important elements of Armenian identity: Mount Ararat, the conversion to Christianity in the fourth century and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots.
The exhibition also displays books and artefacts from the collections of eighteenth century Armenian churches in Transylvania that have never been put on display at international exhibitions before. The exhibition can be visited at the Budapest Historical Museum until September 15.
(MTI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
