Hungarian culture is characterised by its distinctive cuisine, folk traditions, poetry, theatre, religious customs, music and traditional embroidered garments. Hungarian folk traditions range from

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen ...

, decorated

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

and

carvings Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

to the lively celebrations of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

. Historically, Hungarian music also largely consists of

Roma Music Romani music (often referred to as gypsy or gipsy music, which is sometimes considered a derogatory term) is the music of the Romani people who have their origins in northern India but today live mostly in Europe. Historically nomadic, though n ...

alongside classical and baroque pieces. Noted Hungarian authors include

Sándor Márai (; Archaic English name: Alexander Márai; 11 April 1900 – 21 February 1989) was a Hungarian writer, poet, and journalist. Biography Márai was born on 11 April 1900 in the city of Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia). Through his fat ...

Imre Kertész Imre Kertész (; 9 November 192931 March 2016) was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was ...

Péter Esterházy Péter Esterházy (14 April 1950 – 14 July 2016) was a Hungarian writer. He was one of the best known Hungarian and Central European writers of his era. He has been called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature", his books being ...

, Magda Szabó and János Kodolányi. Imre Kertész is particularly noteworthy for having won the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

in 2002.

Architecture

Hungary is home to: * Great Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe * Széchenyi Medicinal Bath, the largest medicinal bath in Europe *

Esztergom Basilica The Primatial Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Adalbert ( hu, Nagyboldogasszony és Szent Adalbert prímási főszékesegyház), also known as the Esztergom Basilica ( hu, Esztergomi bazilika), is an ecclesiastic basil ...

, the third-largest church in Europe *

Pannonhalma Archabbey The Benedictine Pannonhalma Archabbey or Territorial Abbey of Pannonhalma (lat. ''Archiabbatia'' or ''Abbatia Territorialis Sancti Martini in Monte Pannoniae'') is a medieval building in Pannonhalma, one of the oldest historical monuments in Hun ...

, the second-largest territorial abbey in the world * Gödöllő, the second-largest Baroque castle in the world *

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

, the largest Myles Necropolis outside Italy

Music

Liszt koncertteremben Theodor Hosemann 1842

The

music of Hungary Hungary has made many contributions to the fields of folk, popular and classical music. Hungarian folk music is a prominent part of the national identity and continues to play a major part in Hungarian music. It is also strong in the Szabolcs-Sz ...

includes traditional

Hungarian folk music Hungarian folk music ( hu, magyar népzene) includes a broad array of Central European styles, including the recruitment dance verbunkos, the csárdás and nóta. The name ''Népzene'' is also used for Hungarian folk music as an umbrella design ...

and music by prominent composers such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, Franz Schmidt,

Ernő Dohnányi Ernő or Erno is a Finnish and Hungarian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Ernő Balogh (1897-1989), Hungarian pianist, composer, editor, and educator * Ernő Bánk (1883-1962), Hungarian painter and teacher * Ernő B ...

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music edu ...

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

and

Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

. Traditional Hungarian music tends to have a strong dactylic

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

due to the Hungarian language consistently putting stress on the first syllable of each word. Hungary has a number of internationally known composers of contemporary classical music, including György Kurtág,

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and C ...

and

Zoltán Jeney Zoltán Jeney (4 March 1943 – 28 October 2019) was a Hungarian composer. Jeney was born in Szolnok Hungary. He first studied piano and attended Pongrácz's composition classes at the Debrecen Secondary Music School, later continuing compositi ...

, among others. Franz Liszt spoke no Hungarian until 1870, when he started to learn the language, but clearly identified himself as Hungarian and founded the Academy of Music. Béla Bartók was also born in the former

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

. György Ligeti was born in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

, after its transfer to

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Both György Ligeto and Béla Bartók studied at the Liszt Academy before moving abroad, where a large portion of their work was written. Bartók Béla 1927

Hungarian folk music is a prominent part of the national identity and continues to play a major part in Hungarian music. Liszt 1858

Broughton claims that Hungary's "infectious sound has been surprisingly influential on neighbouring countries (thanks perhaps to the common Austro-Hungarian history) and it's not uncommon to hear Hungarian-sounding tunes in Romania, and Slovakia. The Busójárás carnival in

Mohács Mohács (; Croatian and Bunjevac: ''Mohač''; german: Mohatsch; sr, Мохач; tr, Mohaç) is a town in Baranya County, Hungary, on the right bank of the Danube. Etymology The name probably comes from the Slavic ''*Mъchačь'',''*Mocháč'': ...

is a major Hungarian folk music event, formerly featuring the long-established and well-regarded Bogyiszló orchestra.Broughton, pg. 159-167 Hungarian

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

has long been an "experiment, made from Hungarian antedecents and on Hungarian soil, to create a conscious musical culture sing themusical world of the folk song". Although the Hungarian upper class has long had cultural and political connections with the rest of Europe, leading to an influx of European musical ideas, the rural peasants maintained their own traditions, so that by the end of the 19th century Hungarian composers could draw on rural peasant music to (re)create a Hungarian classical style. For example,

and

, two of Hungary's most famous composers, are known for using folk themes in their music. Bartók collected folk songs from across Central Europe, including Romania and Slovakia, whilst Kodály was more interested in creating a distinctively Hungarian musical style. During the era of Communist rule in Hungary (1944–1989), a Song Committee examined and censored popular music for traces of subversion and ideological impurity. Since then, however, the Hungarian music industry has begun to recover, producing successful performers in the fields of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

such as trumpeter

Rudolf Tomsits Rudolf Tomsits (12 May 1946 - 11 June 2003) was a Hungarian jazz musician who played the trumpet and the flugelhorn. Biography After a year in Sweden where he worked with Arne Domnerus, Jan Johansson und Egil Johansen, Tomsits became soloist, ...

, pianist-composer

Károly Binder Károly Binder (born 2 April 1956) is a Hungarian jazz pianist, composer and educator. Early life Binder was born in Budapest on 2 April 1956. He was five years old when he started playing the piano and studied jazz in Budapest at the Béla Bart ...

, and in a modernized form of Hungarian folk,

Ferenc Sebő Ferenc Sebő (born February 10, 1947, in Szekszárd) is a Hungarian folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology d ...

and Márta Sebestyén. Hungary has had several popular rock bands such as Illés, Metró, or

Omega Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/ isopsephy ( gematria), it has a value of 800. The ...

, of which Omega has remained relevant to the present with small foreign followings in Germany and elsewhere. Veteran underground bands from the 1980s such as Beatrice also remain popular.

Literature

In earliest times, the

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungar ...

was written in a runic-like script ( hu, Rovásírás). The country switched to the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...

after being Christianized under the reign of

Stephen I of Hungary Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( hu, Szent István király ; la, Sanctus Stephanus; sk, Štefan I. or Štefan Veľký; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the ...

(1000–1038). There are no existing documents from before the 11th century. The oldest written record in Hungarian is a fragment in the

Establishing charter of the abbey of Tihany The establishing charter of the abbey of Tihany is a document known for including the oldest written words in the Hungarian language. The document, dated to 1055, lists the lands the king donated to the newly founded Tihany Abbey. It is mostly in ...

(1055) which, while mostly written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, contains several Hungarian terms, among them the words ''feheruuaru rea meneh hodu utu rea'', "up the military road to Fehérvár". The oldest complete text is the

Funeral Sermon and Prayer The Funeral Sermon and Prayer ( hu, Halotti beszéd és könyörgés) is the oldest known and surviving contiguous Hungarian text, written by one scribal hand in the Latin script and dating to 1192–1195. It is found on f.154a of the Codex Pr ...

''(Halotti beszéd és könyörgés)'' (1192–1195), a translation of a Latin

sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...

. The oldest poem is the Old Hungarian Laments of Mary ''(Ómagyar Mária-siralom)'', also a translation from Latin, albeit a flawed one, from the 13th century. It is also the oldest surviving

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...

poem. Among the first chronicles of Hungarian history were ''

Gesta Hungarorum ''Gesta Hungarorum'', or ''The Deeds of the Hungarians'', is the earliest book about Hungarian history which has survived for posterity. Its genre is not chronicle, but ''gesta'', meaning "deeds" or "acts", which is a medieval entertaining li ...

'' ("Deeds of the Hungarians") by the unknown author usually called ''Anonymus'' , and ''

Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum The ''Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum'Reader's encyclopedia of Eastern European literature'', 1993, Robert B. Pynsent, Sonia I. Kanikova, p. 529. (Latin: "Deeds of the Huns and Hungarians") is a medieval chronicle written mainly by Simon of Kéz ...

'' ("Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians") by Simon Kézai, both written in Latin. These chronicles are a blend of history and legends, so they are not always historically accurate. Another chronicle is the ''Képes krónika'' (Illustrated Chronicle), which was written for Louis the Great.

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

literature flourished under the reign of king

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

(1458–1490).

Janus Pannonius Janus Pannonius ( la, Ioannes Pannonius, hr, Ivan Česmički, hu, Csezmiczei János or ; 29 August 1434 – 27 March 1472) was a Croatian- Hungarian Latinist, poet, diplomat and Bishop of Pécs. He was the most significant poet of the Re ...

—even though he wrote in Latin—is considered one of the most important writers in Hungarian literature; he was also the only significant Hungarian Humanist poet of the period. The first printing house was founded during Matthias' reign by

András Hess András Hess set up a printing press in Buda in 1472. He printed the first book in Hungary on 5 June 1473 in his Buda press. Hess was probably of German origin. He dedicated the book, the Chronica Hungarorum or Buda Chronicle ( hu, Budai Krónika) ...

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

. The first book printed in Hungary was the ''Chronica Hungarorum''. Matthias Corvinus' library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was among Europe's greatest collections of secular historical chronicles and philosophical and scientific works in the 15th century. In 1489, Bartolomeo della Fonte of Florence wrote that Lorenzo de

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

had founded his own Greek-Latin library after being inspired by the example of the

Hungarian king This is a list of Hungarian monarchs, that includes the grand princes (895–1000) and the kings and ruling queens of Hungary (1000–1918). The Principality of Hungary established 895 or 896, following the 9th-century Hungarian conquest of the ...

. Matthias Corvinus' library is now part of

UNESCO World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Two other important figures of the Hungarian Renaissance are poets Bálint Balassi and Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos. The most important poets of the period following the reign of King Matthias were Bálint Balassi (1554–1594) and

Miklós Zrínyi Miklós Zrínyi ( hr, Nikola Zrinski, hu, Zrínyi Miklós; 5 January 1620 – 18 November 1664) was a Croatian and Hungarian military leader, statesman and poet. He was a member of the House of Zrinski, a Croatian- Hungarian noble family. ...

(1620–1664). Balassi's poetry, reflecting medieval influences, can be divided into three groups: love poems, war poems, and religious poems. Zrínyi's most significant work, the epic '' Szigeti veszedelem'' (" Peril of Sziget", 1648–49) is written in a fashion similar to the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

''. In the poem Zrínyi recounts the heroic

Battle of Szigetvár A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

where his great-grandfather died while defending the castle of Szigetvár. Among religious works, the most important is the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

translation by

Gáspár Károli Gáspár is a Hungarian masculine given name, equivalent to English Jasper, and may refer to: *Gáspár Bekes (1520–1579), Hungarian nobleman * Gáspár Boldizsár (fl. 1990s), Hungarian sprint canoer * Gáspár Borbás (1884–1976), Hungarian ...

, the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

pastor of Gönc, which was completed in 1590. This translation is called the ''Bible of Vizsoly'' after the town where it was first published. (See Hungarian Bible translations for more details.) The Hungarian enlightenment followed about fifty years after the Western European enlightenment, reaching Hungary through

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The first writers of the Hungarian enlightenment were, among others,

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

's bodyguards György Bessenyei and

János Batsányi János Batsányi (9 May 1763 in Tapolca – 12 May 1845 in Linz) was a Hungarian poet. In 1785, he published his first work, a patriotic poem, "The Valour of the Magyars". In the same year he obtained a job as clerk in the treasury of the Hung ...

. The greatest poets of this period were Mihály Csokonai Vitéz and

Dániel Berzsenyi Dániel Berzsenyi (; 7 May 1776 in Hetye (now Egyházashetye) – 24 February 1836 in Nikla) was a Hungarian poet.Trencsenyi, Balazs & Michal Kopecek, eds. ''Discourse of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe.'' New York: Central E ...

. The enlightenment prompted a reform of the

. The greatest figure in this reform was

Ferenc Kazinczy Ferenc Kazinczy (in older English: Francis Kazinczy, October 27, 1759 – August 23, 1831) was a Hungarian author, poet, translator, neologist, an agent in the regeneration of the Hungarian language and literature at the turn of the 19th centu ...

. Beginning at that time, Hungarian became useful for scientific writing, and many words were coined to name new inventions.

Hungarian literature Hungarian literature is the body of written works primarily produced in Hungarian,

has recently gained renown outside the borders of Hungary, mostly through German, French and English translations. Some modern Hungarian authors have become popular in Germany and Italy, especially

, Péter Nádas, and

. Kertész is a contemporary Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor who won the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

for literature in 2002. The classics of Hungarian literature have remained largely unknown outside Hungary.

János Arany János Arany (; archaic English: John Arany; 2 March 1817 – 22 October 1882) was a Hungarian poet, writer, translator and journalist. He is often said to be the "Shakespeare of ballads" – he wrote more than 102 ballads that have been transl ...

, a famous 19th-century poet, is still much loved in Hungary, especially his collection of

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

s. Arany is among several other "true classics" including

Sándor Petőfi Sándor Petőfi ( []; né Petrovics; sk, Alexander Petrovič; sr, Александар Петровић; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet of Serbian origin and liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary' ...

, the poet of the Revolution of 1848,

Endre Ady Endre Ady (Hungarian: ''diósadi Ady András Endre,'' archaic English: Andrew Ady, 22 November 1877 – 27 January 1919) was a turn-of-the-century Hungarian poet and journalist. Regarded by many as the greatest Hungarian poet of the 20th century ...

Mihály Babits Mihály Babits (; 26 November 1883 – 4 August 1941) was a Hungarian poet, writer and translator. His poems are well known for their intense religious themes. His novels such as “The Children of Death” (1927) explore psychological pro ...

Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...

Attila József Attila József (; 11 April 1905 – 3 December 1937) was one of the most famous Hungarian poets of the 20th century. Generally not recognized during his lifetime, József was hailed during the communist era of the 1950s as Hungary's great ...

, and

János Pilinszky János Pilinszky (27 November 1921 in Budapest – 27 May 1981 in Budapest) was one of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century. Well known within the Hungarian borders for his vast influence on postwar Hungarian poetry, Pilins ...

. Other Hungarian authors are

Ferenc Móra Ferenc Móra (19 July 1879 – 8 February 1934) was a Hungarian novelist, journalist, and museologist. Life Ferenc Móra was born in Kiskunfélegyháza, into a financially poor family. His father Márton Móra was a tailor, and his mothe ...

, Géza Gárdonyi,

Zsigmond Móricz Zsigmond Móricz (; 29 June 1879, Tiszacsécse – 4 September 1942) was a major Hungarian novelist and Social Realist. Biography Zsigmond Móricz was born in Tiszacsécse in 1879 to Bálint Móricz and Erzsébet Pallagi. On his mother's ...

Gyula Illyés Gyula Illyés born ''Gyula Illés'' (2 November 1902 – 15 April 1983) was a Hungarian poet and novelist. He was one of the so-called ''népi'' ("from the people") writers, named so because they aimed to show – propelled by strong so ...

Albert Wass Count Albert Wass de Szentegyed et Czege ( hu, gróf szentegyedi és cegei Wass Albert; January 8, 1908 – February 17, 1998) was a Hungarian nobleman, forest engineer, novelist, poet, and member of the Wass de Czege family. Wass was born i ...

, and Magda Szabó. Vilmos Kondor has created a new trend in recent years, and is mentioned as the creator of Hungarian noir (see '' Budapest Noir'').

Film

Many Hungarians have contributed to film art and its technology, but, due to political reasons, many of them found it was easier to find success abroad. As of 2018, Hungarians working in Hollywood and some in Hungary had received more than 150 Academy Award nominations and about 46 Academy Awards. Already in the 1930s there were 17 Hungarian nominations, but the peak was in the decade of the 1940s when about 51 nominations and 13 to 15 Academy Awards were given to exiled Hungarians. The best year was 1944 with 9 to 10 nominations and four (

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...

, Paul Lukas,

George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...

, and William S. Darling) Academy Awards. The first Hungarian to be nominated was

Lajos Bíró Lajos Bíró (; born Lajos Blau; 22 August 1880 – 9 September 1948) was a Hungarian novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who wrote many films from the early 1920s through the late 1940s. Life He was born in Nagyvárad, Kingdom of Hunga ...

(1929) and the first to win the award was William S. Darling (1933). Art Direction might be the most successful category concerning wins/nominations: Paul Groesse 3/11, William S. Darling 3/7,

Joseph Kish Joseph Kish (June 14, 1899 – March 14, 1969) was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for four more in the category Best Art Direction. He worked on 130 films between 1942 and 1966. Selected filmography Ki ...

1/5,

Vincent Korda Vincent Korda (22 June 1897 – 4 January 1979) was a Hungarian-born art director, later settling in Britain. Born in Túrkeve in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was the younger brother of Alexander and Zoltan Korda. He was no ...

1/4,

Alexandre Trauner Alexandre Trauner (born Sándor Trau; 3 August 1906 in Budapest, Hungary – 5 December 1993 in Omonville-la-Petite, France) was a Hungarian film production designer. After studying painting at Hungarian Royal Drawing School, he left the c ...

1/2 and

Marcel Vertès Marcel Vertès (born Marcell Vértes, 10 August 1895 – 31 October 1961) was a French costume designer and illustrator of Hungarian-Jewish origins. He won two Academy Awards ( Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design) for his work on th ...

1/1. The number of nominees and awards in all categories, exceeds all other nations, counted per capita. Hungarians emigrated in large numbers after several disasters following the First World War (1918) when neighbouring countries—Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia—occupied parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary, which lost two-thirds of its territory in a 1920 treaty. There was a brief communist takeover accompanied by a so-called ″red terror″ and then a reaction against it called the ″white terror″, which disrupted the economy. At that time Hungarian filmmakers tried their fortunes abroad, first, as did

Géza von Bolváry Géza von Bolváry (born Géza Gyula Mária Bolváry Zahn, german: Géza Maria von Bolváry-Zahn; 26 December 1897 – 10 August 1961) was a Hungarian actor, screenwriter, and film director, who worked principally in Germany and Austria. Biog ...

, in the German-speaking world and later in the English-speaking world. Film with sound was invented (1918) in Germany by

Dénes Mihály Dénes Mihály (7 July 1894, Gödöllő – 29 August 1953, West-Berlin) was a Hungarian inventor, engineer. Mihály graduated as a mechanical engineer at the Technical University in Budapest. During his high school studies – at the age of 16 ...

. Béla Gáspár invented, 1932, the first full color one-strip film:

Gasparcolor Gasparcolor was a color motion picture film system, developed in Berlin in 1933 by the Hungarian chemist Dr. Béla Gáspár ( Oraviczbánya, Transylvania 1898-1973). It used a subtractive 3-color process on a single film strip, one of the earli ...

patended in 1933. With the advent of racial laws in 1939, Jewish citizens were forced to leave the country to find work. It is ironic that some of the most successful propaganda films during the Second World War for both sides were directed by Hungarians: ''Münchhausen'' by

Josef von Báky Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) Josef is the surname of the following people: * Jens Josef (born 1967), German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher * Michelle Josef (born 1954), Canadian musician and tr ...

and ''

"Pimpernel" Smith ''"Pimpernel" Smith'' (released in the USA as ''Mister V'') is a 1941 British anti-Nazi thriller, produced and directed by its star Leslie Howard, which updates his role in ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1934) from Revolutionary France to pre-Seco ...

'' by

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Vanity Fair'' and was one o ...

. With another, longer-lasting, communist takeover in 1948, more Hungarians left. After the crushed

1956 revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

, more important filmmakers left, including Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács, Jean Badal and

Peter Medak Peter Medak (born Medák Péter, 23 December 1937) is a Hungarian-born film director and television director of British and American productions. Early life Born in Budapest, Hungary, he was the son of Elisabeth (née Diamounstein) and Gyula Med ...

. Following the amnesty of 1960, the cultural climate eased somewhat. Nevertheless, despite the hardships of staying at home, some Hungarians received the coveted Academy Award nominations (21 times for 24 people up to 2018) and in some cases the actual Award (Ferenc Rofusz (1980), István Szabó (1981), Zsuzsa Böszörményi (1991) and co-winners Jászberényi, Perlaki and Priskin (2010), and co-winners Imre Major and Csaba Kőhegyi in 2014. The first Hungarian to be nominated from Hungary was Tamás Czigány, for best short documentary in 1967. The best-known Hungarian film to date is ''Mephisto'', by István Szabó. It won an Academy Award in the category Best Foreign Language film. The year before, in 1980, ''The Fly'', an animation by Rofusz, became the very first Hungarian film to receive an Academy Award. The Foreign Student Academy Award went to Zsuzsa Böszörményi (1991). In 2010 the trio Márk Jászberényi, Tamás Perlaki and Gyula Priskin obtained the scientific and engineering award for Lustre, a software program to color-correct intermediates in real time (it was first used on ''The Lord of the Rings''). In 2014 the same prize went to three Hungarians,

Tibor Madjar Tibor is a masculine given name found throughout Europe. There are several explanations for the origin of the name: * from Latin name Tiberius, which means "from Tiber", Tiber being a river in Rome. * in old Slavic languages, Tibor means "sacred pl ...

, Imre Major and Csaba Kőhegyi (2014). Up to 2018, ten films have been nominated in the category Best Foreign Language Film: four nominations to István Szabó (the most nominated person in Hungary), two to

Zoltán Fábri Zoltán Fábri (15 October 1917 – 23 August 1994) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His films ''The Boys of Paul Street'' (1969) and ''Hungarians'' (1978) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. H ...

(1969, 1979) and one each to

Imre Gyöngyössy Imre Gyöngyössy (25 February 1930 – 1 May 1994) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His film '' The Revolt of Job'' (1983), which he co-directed with Barna Kabay, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ...

Barna Kabay Barna Kabay (born 15 August 1948, Budapest) is a Hungarian people, Hungarian film director, screenwriter and film producer. His film ''The Revolt of Job'' (1983), which he co-directed with Imre Gyöngyössy, was nominated for the Academy Award fo ...

and

Károly Makk Károly Makk (December 22, 1925 – August 30, 2017) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Five of his films were nominated for the ''Palme d'Or'' at the Cannes Film Festival; however, he won lesser awards at Cannes and elsewhere. He wa ...

, and '' On Body and Soul'' (2018). Three films have been nominated for Best Short Animation (

Marcell Jankovics Marcell Jankovics (21 October 1941 – 29 May 2021) was a Hungarian graphic artist, film director, animator and author. He is best known for the animated films ''Johnny Corncob'' (1973; the first animated feature of his native country) and '' ...

, Ferenc Rófusz and Géza M. Tóth). Cinematographer

Lajos Koltai Lajos Koltai, ASC, HSC, (born 2 April 1946) is a Hungarian cinematographer and film director best known for his work with legendary Hungarian director István Szabó, and Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore. He was nominated for an Academy A ...

has been nominated for best cinematography in 2000. In 2016, ''

Son of Saul ''Son of Saul'' ( hu, Saul fia) is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, ...

'' won the second Best Foreign Language Film AA for Hungary. In 2017 Hungary won the best short feature category with Mindenki. In 2018 Hungary got its 10th nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film for '' On Body and Soul'' by Ildikó Enyedi. The most successful film around 2019 is '' Eternal Winter'' by Atilla Szász. '' Those Who Remained'' was shortlisted for Best Foreign film 2020.

Famous Hungarians in the film industry

Hollywood

Cinematographers László Kovacs ASC, Andrew László ASC.

Andrew Marton Andrew Marton (born Endre Marton; 26 January 1904 – 7 January 1992) was a Hungarian-American film director. In his career, he directed 39 films and television programs, and worked on 16 as a second unit director, including the chariot race in ...

directed the chariot race in ''Ben-Hur'' for which he won a Golden Globe. Joe Eszterhas wrote ''Basic Instinct'' and became the highest-paid writer in Hollywood history. He also wrote the Berlin Golden Bear winner "Music Box" and the first Hungarian "blockbuster", ''

Children of Glory ''Children of Glory'' ( hu, Szabadság, szerelem) is a 2006 film directed by Krisztina Goda. Children of Glory commemorates Hungary's Revolution of 1956 and the "Blood in the Water" match. Taking place in Budapest and at the Melbourne Olympic ...

''. Zoltan Elek won AA-award (1986) for make-up. Actors of Hungarian origin are

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

(10 AA nominations: 59, 62, 64, 68–69, 82–83, 86–87, 95, 99 and 2003)/one win 87 plus one honorary award 86 and 99 win), Tony Curtis (1 AA nomination), Johnny Weissmüller (Tarzan) and

Béla Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

(Dracula),

Franciska Gaal Franciska Gaal (born Franciska Silberspitz, 1 February 1903 – 13 August 1972) was a Hungarian cabaret artist and film actress of Jewish heritage. Gaal starred in a popular series of European romantic comedies during the 1930s. After attracting ...

, Ilona Massey,

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the 1933 Miss Hungary pageant, where she ...

Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr (; born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; November 9, 1914 January 19, 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. A film star during Hollywood's golden age, Lamarr has been described as one of the greatest movie actress ...

was half-Hungarian as was

Ali MacGraw Elizabeth Alice MacGraw (born April 1, 1939) is an American actress and activist. She gained attention with her role in the film ''Goodbye, Columbus'' (1969), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She gained an ...

nominated (71) ( ''Love Story''),

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

(1 AA),

Goldie Hawn Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...

(1 AA),

Marton Csokas Marton Paul Csokas (, hu, Csókás Márton Pál; born 30 June 1966) is a Hungarian-New Zealand actor of film, stage, and television. A graduate of the Toi Whakaari drama school, he has worked extensively in Australia and Hollywood, along with ...

and

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

, one nomination (2017).

Great Britain

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten ...

'' with music of

Anton Karas Anton Karl Karas (7 July 1906 – 10 January 1985) was an Austrian zither player and composer, best known for his internationally famous 1948 soundtrack to Carol Reed's ''The Third Man''. His association with the film came about as a result of ...

. *Producer

Gabriel Pascal Gabriel Pascal (born Gábor Lehel; 4 June 1894 – 6 July 1954) was a Hungarian film producer and director whose best-known films were made in the United Kingdom. Pascal was the first film producer to successfully bring the plays of Georg ...

got one nomination (1939) for '' Pygmalion'' co-directed and starred by

Germany

Géza von Radványi Géza von Radványi (born Géza Grosschmid; 26 September 1907 – 27 November 1986) was a Hungarian film director, cinematographer, producer and writer. Biography Born Géza Grosschmid, he took the name Radványi from his paternal grandmother. ...

made 70 mm films to compete with Hollywood. *

(directed ''Münchausen'') *

Géza von Cziffra Géza von Cziffra (; 19 December 1900 – 28 April 1989) was a Hungarian and Austrian film director and screenwriter. Life Cziffra was a Banat German in origin, born in 1900 in Arad in the Banat region, at that date in the Kingdom of Hungar ...

Eduard von Borsody Eduard von Borsody (; 13 June 1898 – 1 January 1970) was an Austrian cameraman, film editor, film director, and screenplay writer. Biography His film career began as a cameraman. Among his first jobs were three films on which Mihály Kertész ...

Julius von Borsody Julius von Borsody (8 April 1892 in Vienna – 18 January 1960, also in Vienna) was an Austrian film architect and one of the most employed set designers in the Austrian and German cinemas of the late silent and early sound film periods. His y ...

Israel

Ephraim Kishon Ephraim Kishon (: August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was a Hungarian-born Israeli author, dramatist, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated film director. He was one of the most widely read contemporary satirists in Israel, and was also particula ...

(b. Ferenc Hoffmann) was Israel's first nominee for best foreign-language film. He got two nominations (1964, 1972).

Czechoslovakia

Ján Kadár Ján Kadár (1 April 1918 – 1 June 1979) was a Hungarian-born Slovak film writer and director of Jewish heritage. As a filmmaker, he worked in Czechoslovakia, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with E ...

(b. János Kadár) won the first AA for Czechoslovakia (1965).

Canada

Paul Sarossy is active often as Atom Egoyan's cinematographer.

Hungary

Some years after the failed revolution of 1956 against the Soviet-dominated communist dictatorship, the cultural climate eased slightly; this led to more creative freedom. Important films in the 1960s were directed by

István Gaál István Gaál (25 August 1933 – 25 September 2007) was a Hungarian film director, editor and screenwriter. He directed more than 20 films between 1956 and 1996. With ''Falcons'' he won the Jury Prize at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. Sele ...

: (''The Falcons''), András Kovács: '' Hideg Napok'' (1966),

Miklós Jancsó Miklós Jancsó (; 27 September 192131 January 2014) was a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. Jancsó achieved international prominence starting in the mid-1960s with works including '' The Round-Up'' (''Szegénylegények'', 1965), '' ...

: '' The Round-Up'' (1965) (Screenplay: Hernádi Gyula, DOP:

Tamás Somló Tamás Somló (17 November 1947 – 19 July 2016) was a Hungarian musician, singer-songwriter and artist. He is mostly known for having been a member of Hungarian rock bands Omega and Locomotiv GT and for composing several of their successful so ...

), and

István Szabó István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director. Szabó is one of the most notable Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian-speaking world since the ...

(''The Father'').

Márton Keleti Márton Keleti (27 April 1905 – 20 June 1973) was a Hungarian film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the ...

directed: '' Franz Liszt: Dreams of Love''. (1970) filmed in 70 mm by István Hildebrandt. Other important filmmakers Sándor Pál,

Márta Mészáros Márta Mészáros (born 19 September 1931) is a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. The daughter of László Mészáros, a sculptor, Mészáros began her career working in documentary film, having made 25 documentary shorts over the span ...

(''

Adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

'' Golden Bear Berlin 1975),

Péter Gothár Péter Gothár (born 28 August 1947) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 23 films since 1974. His film '' The Outpost'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Selected film ...

(Golden Lion, Venice): '' Time Stands Still'' (Cannes: Award of the Youth, 1982) (1982). '' Sunshine'' and ''

'' are successful bigger budget movies about Hungary's turbulent past. Recent successful films include:

János Szász János Szász (born 14 March 1958) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter and theater director. He has directed eleven films since 1983. His film '' Witman fiúk'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Fest ...

: (Witman fiúk, DOP: Tibor Máthé 1997), György Pálfi: '' Hukkle'' (2002), (''

Taxidermia ''Taxidermia'' is a 2006 Hungarian surrealist comedy-drama horror film directed and co-written by György Pálfi. An international co-production of Hungary, Austria and France, the film spins a metaphorical socio-political retelling of Hungary's ...

'') (2006). The first super-studio in Hungary was

Korda Studios Korda Studios (in Hungarian: ''Korda Filmstúdió'') is a film studio complex 26 km west of Budapest in the wine-making village of Etyek; hence the media nickname ''Etyekwood''. It is built on the site of a former barracks. The studio is ...

. The next was Raleigh Studios, Budapest. Partly because of this an increasing number of foreign films, mainly with larger budgets, have been shot in Hungary in recent years, especially in Budapest. Budapest has been nicknamed "Hollywood on the Danube" because it is arguably now the most Hollywood-populated place outside the U.S. Steven Spielberg's ''Munich'' was also partly shot in Budapest. Most of

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born October 9, 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and actor. He directed the Academy Award–winning fantasy films ''Pan's Labyrinth'' (2006) and '' The Shape of Water'' (2017), winning the Academy Awards for ...

's '' Hellboy II'' was shot in Hungary. Altogether 47 foreign films were shot in Hungary in 2008, and 52 in 2009. In comparison, about 20 to 30 Hungarian movies are made annually.

Art movies

Hungarians were major pioneers in cinema both in Europe (e.g.

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)art movie.

István Szőts István Szőts (June 30, 1912 – November 6, 1998) was a Hungarian screenwriter and film director. He was born in Szentgyörgyválya (now Valea Sângeorgiului, Călan, Romania), and later moved with his father to Hungary. Szőts studied fin ...

People of the Mountains ''People of the Mountains'' (Hungarian: ''Emberek a havason'') is a 1942 Hungarian drama film directed by István Szőts and starring Alice Szellay, János Görbe, Péterke Ferency. The film is set in the Székely woodcutting community of Tran ...

won the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1942, then Géza Radványi Somewhere in Europe influenced the emerging neorealism. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the greatest Hungarian film director was

who won the first two international film prizes: * ''The Round-Up'' (Szegénylegények),

Locarno , neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra , twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia * Karlovy Vary, Czech ...

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

, 1965 * ''

Red Psalm ''Red Psalm'' ( hu, Még kér a nép) is a 1972 Hungarian film by Miklós Jancsó. The literal translation of the title is "''And the People Still Ask''", a quote from a poem by Sándor Petőfi. Plot ''Red Psalm'' centers around a small peasants' ...

'' ("Még kér a nép"

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

, Best Director Award, 1971 *Hungary won Crystal Globe 2016 *Hungary won Prix Europa (Best European TV Movie or Mini-series of the Year) 2017: '' Memo'' *Hungary won Prix Europa (Best European TV Movie or Mini-series of the Year) 2018: ''Eternal Winter'' by Attila Szász *Main Prize at Braunschweig Int. Film Festival 2018: X by Ujj Mészáros *Main Prize at Berlin Int. Film Festival 2018: ''On Body and Soul'' by Ildikó Enyedi *Main Prize at Monte Carlo Int. Film Festival 2019: ''Bad Poems'' by

Gábor Reisz Gábor (sometimes written Gabor) may refer to: * Gábor (given name) * Gabor (surname) * Gabor sisters, the three famous actresses, Eva, Magda and Zsa Zsa * Several scientific terms named after Dennis Gabor ** Gabor atom ** Gabor filter ...

*Main Prize at Tuburon Int. Film Festival(US) 2019: ''Eternal Winter'', also: Best Director, Screenplay, Actress and Cinematography

Cuisine

Dobos cake (Gerbeaud Confectionery Budapest Hungary)

Traditional dishes such as the world-famous

Goulash Goulash ( hu, gulyás) is a soup or stew of meat and vegetables seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is a common meal predominantly eaten in Central Europe but also in other parts of Europe. It is one of the n ...

(''gulyás'' stew or ''gulyásleves'' soup) are popular. Dishes are often flavoured with

paprika Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from '' Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder ...

(ground red peppers), a Hungarian innovation. Thick, heavy Hungarian

sour cream Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial cultu ...

called ''

tejföl Smetana (or ''smotana'') is a type of sour cream from Central and Eastern Europe. It is a dairy product produced by souring heavy cream. It is similar to ''crème fraîche'' (28% fat), but nowadays mainly sold with 9% to 42% milkfat content depe ...

'' is often used to soften the dish's flavour. The famous Hungarian hot river fish soup called Fisherman's soup or ''

halászlé Fisherman's soup or halászlé () is a hot, spicy paprika-based fish soup. A folk item of Hungarian cuisine, it is a bright-red hot dish prepared with generous amounts of hot paprika and carp or mixed river fish. It is native to the Pannonian P ...

'' is usually a rich mixture of several kinds of poached fish. Other dishes include

chicken paprikash Chicken paprikash ( hu, paprikás csirke or ''csirkepaprikás'') or paprika chicken is a popular dish of Hungarian origin and one of the most famous variations on the ''paprikás'' preparations common to Hungarian tables. The name is derived fr ...

, ''

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delica ...

'' made of goose liver, ''

pörkölt Pörkölt is a meat stew which originates from Hungary, but is eaten throughout Central Europe. In Hungary Pörkölt is a Hungarian stew with boneless meat, paprika, and some vegetables. It should not be confused with ''Goulash'', a stew with ...

'' stew, ''vadas'' (

game A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

stew with vegetable gravy and

dumplings Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fish ...

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

with

almonds The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. The almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree. Within the genus ...

or salty and sweet

, and '' túrós csusza'', (

with fresh

quark cheese Quark or quarg is a type of fresh dairy product made from milk. The milk is soured, usually by adding lactic acid bacteria cultures, and strained once the desired curdling is achieved. It can be classified as fresh acid-set cheese. Tradition ...

and thick

). Desserts include the iconic

Dobos Cake Dobos torte ( hu, Dobos torta ), also known as Dobosh, is a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel. The layered pastry is named after its inventor, Hungarian chef József C. Dobos, a delicatessen own ...

Strudel A strudel (, ) is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Habsburg Empire. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine but is also comm ...

(''rétes''), filled with

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The n ...

poppy seeds Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

or cheese, Gundel pancake, plum dumplings ('' szilvás gombóc''), ''somlói dumplings'', dessert soups like chilled

sour cherry soup Sour cherry soup is a slightly sweet soup made with sour cream, sugar and whole fresh sour cherries, and served chilled. Originating in Hungarian cuisine, this soup is a summer delicacy in several European cuisines. The dish has been adopted by ...

, and sweet

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrel ...

puree (''gesztenyepüré'') (cooked chestnuts mashed with

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

and

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

, split into crumbs, and topped with

whipped cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, an ...

). ''

Perec Perec is a surname of several French people, including: *Georges Perec, (1936–1982), French novelist of Polish-Jewish origin (the surname is the Polish spelling of the Biblical Hebrew name Peretz) *Marie-José Pérec Marie-José Pérec (born 9 ...

'' and '' kifli'' are widely popular pastries. The ''csárda'' is the most distinctive type of Hungarian inn, an old-style tavern offering traditional cuisine and beverages. ''Borozó'' usually denotes a cozy old-fashioned wine tavern, ''pince'' is a beer or wine cellar, and a ''söröző'' is a pub offering draught beer and sometimes meals. The ''bisztró'' is an inexpensive restaurant often with self-service. The ''büfé'' is the cheapest place, although one may have to eat standing at a counter. Pastries, cake, and coffee are served at a ''cukrászda'', while an ''eszpresszó'' is a cafeteria.

Alcoholic beverages

Pálinka:

Pálinka Pálinka is a traditional fruit spirit (or fruit brandy) with origins in Carpathian Mountains, more exactly known under several names, and invented in the Middle Ages. Protected as a geographical indication of the European Union, only fruit spir ...

is a fruit

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

, distilled from fruit grown in the orchards of the

Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...

. It is a spirit native to Hungary, and comes in a variety of flavours including

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus '' Prunus''. Usually, an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are al ...

(''barack'') and

(''cseresznye''). However,

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...

(''szilva'') is the most common flavour. Though many flavours are available, pálinka made of strawberries or walnut are considered to be a rare and expensive delicacy; variations also include pálinka sweetened with honey or fruit beds under the liquid.

Beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

: Beer goes well with many traditional Hungarian dishes. The five main Hungarian breweries are Borsodi, Soproni, Arany Ászok, Kőbányai, and Dreher.

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

: As Hugh Johnson says in ''The History of Wine'', the territory of Hungary is ideal for wine-making. Since the fall of communism, there has been a renaissance of Hungarian wine-making. The choice of good wine is widening from year to year. The country can be divided to six wine regions, which include North-Transdanubia,

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and ...

, South Pannonia, Duna-region or ''Alföld'',

Upper Hungary Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...

and

Tokaj-Hegyalja Tokaj wine region ( hu, Tokaji borvidék sk, Vinohradnícka oblasť Tokaj) or Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region (short ''Tokaj-Hegyalja'' or ''Hegyalja'') is a historical wine region located in northeastern Hungary and southeastern Slovakia. It is a ...

. Hungarian wine regions offer a great variety of style, of which the main products of the country are elegant and full-bodied dry whites with good

acidity In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...

, although complex sweet whites (''Tokaj''), elegant (

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bui ...

) and full-bodied robust reds ( Villány and

Szekszárd Szekszárd (, formerly also ''Szegzárd''; hr, Seksar; german: Sechshard or ; sr, Сексард) is a small city in southern Hungary and the capital of Tolna County. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area ...

). The main varieties are

Olaszrizling Welschriesling is a white wine grape variety, unrelated to the Rhine Riesling, that is grown throughout Central Europe. Origin The descendance of Welschriesling is uncertain. The German name ''Welschriesling'' literally means ' Romanic Riesling' ...

, Hárslevelű, Furmint,

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

or ''Szürkebarát'',

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

(whites), Kékfrankos (or ''Blaufrankisch'' in German),

Kadarka Cadarca or Kadarka or Gamza is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. It has a long history and is popular in Romania and Bulgaria, where it is known as Гъмза ''Gamza''. It used to be an important constituent of the Hungarian ...

, Portugieser,

Zweigelt The Zweigelt, also known as Rotburger, is a new Austrian grape created in 1922 by Friedrich Zweigelt (1888–1964), who later became Director of the Federal Institute and Experimental Station of Viticulture, Fruit Production and Horticulture ( ...

Cabernet sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon ...

Cabernet franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being u ...

, and

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

. The most famous wines from Hungary are Tokaji Aszú and

Egri Bikavér Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood of Eger) is a blended red wine produced in Eger, Hungary. It is very representative of the red wines of Eger, a terroir wine, which carries the flavour of the soils of local production sites, the mezzo-climate unique ...

Tokaji Tokaji ( hu, of Tokaj ) or Tokay is the name of the wines from the Tokaj wine region (also ''Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region'' or ''Tokaj-Hegyalja'') in Hungary or the adjoining Tokaj wine region in Slovakia. This region is noted for its sweet wines ...

: ''Tokaji'', meaning "of/from Tokaj", is used to label wines from the wine region of

. Tokaji wine has received accolades from numerous great writers and composers including

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

, and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

;

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...

's favorite wine was a Tokaji.

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

and

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

tried to outdo one another in the excellence of the vintages they stocked, when they treated guests like

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

to some Tokaji.

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

, the last Emperor of the French, ordered 30–40 barrels of Tokaji for the Court every year.

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

, King of Sweden, never had any other wine to drink. In

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, customers included

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

and

Empress Elizabeth of Russia Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

. ''Zwack Unicum'': For over 150 years, a blend of 40 Hungarian

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

has been used to create the

liqueur A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged beyon ...

Unicum. Unicum is a bitter, dark-coloured liqueur that can be drunk as an ''apéritif'' or after a meal; it is claimed that this helps the digestion. The recipe is held secret by the Zwack family.

Spa culture

Hungary is a land of

thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

water. A passion for spa culture and

Hungarian history Hungary in its modern (post-1946) borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain (the Pannonian Basin). During the Iron Age, it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of the Celtic tribes (such as the Scordisci, Boii ...

have been connected from the very beginning. It has been shown that Hungarian spa culture is multicultural. The basis of this claim is architecture: Hungarian spas feature

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, Turkish, and northern country architectural elements. Due to an advantageous geographical location, thermal water can be found with good quality and in great quantities on over 80% of Hungary's territory. The

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

heralded the first age of the spa in Hungary; remains of their bath complexes are still to be seen in

Óbuda Óbuda was a town in Hungary that was merged with Buda and Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means ''Old Buda'' in Hungarian (in German, ''Alt-Ofen''). The name in Bosnian, ...

. The spa culture was revived during the Turkish Invasion; the Turks used the thermal springs of

for the construction of a number of bathhouses, some of which are still functioning (such as

Király Baths Király Bath or Király fürdő is a thermal bath that was first built in Hungary in the second half of the sixteenth century, during the time of Ottoman rule. The bath and its neighborhood have since become part of the consolidated city of Budape ...

and

Rudas Baths Rudas Bath or Rudas fürdő is a thermal bath in Budapest, Hungary which is claimed to have medicinal properties. It was first built in 1550, during the time of Ottoman rule. To date, it retains many of the key elements of a Hammam, exemplified by ...

). In the 19th century, advances in deep drilling and medical science provided the springboard for a further leap in bathing culture. Grand spas such as Gellért Baths, Lukács Baths,

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( hu, Margitsziget ; german: Margareteninsel; tr, Kızadası) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recrea ...

, and Széchenyi Medicinal Bath are a reflection of this resurgence in popularity. About 1,500 thermal springs can be found in Hungary. About half of these are used for bathing. The spa culture has a history of nearly 2,000 years in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. Budapest has the richest supply of thermal water among the capitals of the world. There are about 450 public baths in Hungary. Nowadays the trend shows that bath operators are modernizing their facilities and expanding the services offered. A total of 50 of the 160 public baths are qualified as spas throughout the country. Services are offered for healing purposes. These spas provide every type of balneal and physical therapy.

The wine-growing terroir of Egerszalók

The spa at

Egerszalók Egerszalók is an open-air spa and village in Heves County in northeastern Hungary. The springs yield 68 °C. mineral water from an aquifer located under the volcanic Mátra Mountains. The spa is located 8 km west of the county seat o ...

is noted for its position in one of the principal wine-growing regions of Hungary. Egerszalók is also notable for human-caused geological morphology: when the spa was expanded by the government in 1961, the flow of supersaturated mineral water sharply increased, leading to the deposition of a hillside of shining white

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

The thermal lake of Hévíz

Lake Hévíz is the largest biologically active, natural

thermal lake A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

in the world. The oldest and most well-known bath of Hungary, in accordance with records from the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, has a history of 2,000 years. The Hévíz treatment, in its present sense, also dates back more than 200 years. The 4.4 ha (11 acre) lake is fed by its spring rushing up at a depth of 38 m, containing

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rat ...

, and

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...

. Due to the high water output of the spring, the water of the lake is completely changed within 48 hours. The water of the lake is equally rich in dissolved substances and gases, combining the favourable effects of naturally carbonated medicinal waters and those containing sulphur,

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar ...

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ...

, hydrogen-carbonate, as well as those with a slightly radioactive content. The medicinal Hévíz mud, which is unique of its kind, contains both organic and inorganic substances and the radium-salts and reduced sulphuric solutions in it represent special medicinal factors. The temperature of the water is 23–25 °C in winter and 33–36 °C in summer.

Folk dance

* Ugrós (Jumping dances): Old style dances dating back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. Solo or couple dances accompanied by old style music, shepherd and other solo man's dances from

, and marching dances along with remnants of medieval weapon dances belong in this group. * Karikázó: a circle dance performed by only women, and accompanied by singing of folksongs. *

Csárdás Csárdás (, ; ), often seen as Czárdás, is a traditional Hungarian folk dance, the name derived from ' (old Hungarian term for roadside tavern and restaurant). It originated in Hungary and was popularized by bands in Hungary and neighboring l ...

: New style dances developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, is the

Hungarian name Hungarian names include surnames and given names. Some people have more than one given name, but only one is normally used. In the Hungarian language, whether written or spoken, names are invariably given in the "Eastern name order", or family n ...

for the national dances, with Hungarian embroidered costumes and energetic music. From the men's intricate bootslapping dances to the ancient women's circle dances, Csárdás demonstrates the infectious exuberance of the Hungarian folk dancing still celebrated in the villages. * Verbunkos: a solo man's dance evolved from the recruiting performances of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

army. * The Legényes: It is a men's solo dance done by the ethnic

Hungarian people Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

living in the Kalotaszeg region of

. Although usually danced by young men, it can be also danced by older men. The dance is performed freestyle usually by one dancer at a time in front of the band. Women participate in the dance by standing in lines to the side and sing/shout verses while the men dance. Each lad does a number of points (dance phrases) typically 4 to 8 without repetition. Each point consists of 4 parts, each lasting 4 counts. The first part is usually the same for everyone (there are only a few variations).

Embroidery

It was in the beginning of the 18th century that the present style of Hungarian folk art took shape, incorporating both

and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

elements, depending on the area, as well as

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n Sassanide influences. Flowers and leaves, sometimes a bird or a

spiral In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Helices Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

practiced elsewhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, also flourished among the Magyar peasantry at one time or another, their ceramics and textile being the most highly developed of all. The finest achievements in their

textile arts Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials u ...

are the embroideries which vary from region to region. Those of Kalotaszeg in

are charming products of Oriental design, sewn chiefly in a single color - red, blue, or black. Soft in line, the embroideries are applied on altar cloths, pillow cases and sheets. In Hungary, proper Sárköz (a historical area in Tolna) in

Transdanubia Transdanubia ( hu, Dunántúl; german: Transdanubien, hr, Prekodunavlje or ', sk, Zadunajsko :sk:Zadunajsko) is a traditional region of Hungary. It is also referred to as Hungarian Pannonia, or Pannonian Hungary. Administrative divisions Trad ...

and the Matyóföld in the

produce the finest embroideries. In the Sárköz region, the women's caps show black and white designs as delicate as lace and give evidence of the people's wonderfully subtle artistic feeling. The embroidery motifs applied to women's wear have also been transposed to tablecloths and runners suitable for modern use as wall decorations.

Folk costumes (17th–19th centuries)

File:Bikkessy Heinbucher Kunsági paraszt.jpg File:Vidéky Károly Bács vármegyei parasztok.jpg File:Dunamenti viseletek 1822.jpg File:Franz Jaschke Szolnok és Veszprém megyei parasztok.jpg File:Klimkovics Ferenc Kalotaszegi népviselet Erdélyben.jpg File:Bikkessy Heinbucher Felső-magyarországi szénás paraszt.jpg File:Bikkessy Heinbucher Táncoló magyarok.jpg File:Medve Imre Az ivó.jpg File:Nyulassy Lajos Érsekújvári köznép ruházata.jpg

Ceramics

Black pottery

These vessels, made of black clay, reflect more than three hundred years of traditional

n folk patterns and shapes. No two are precisely alike, since all work is done by hand, including both the shaping and the decorating. The imprints are made by the thumb or a finger of the ceramist who makes the piece.

Herend Porcelain

Founded in 1826, Herend Porcelain is one of the world's largest ceramic factories, specializing in luxury hand painted and gilded

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

. In the mid-19th century, it was purveyor to the

Habsburg Dynasty The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

and aristocratic customers throughout Europe. Many of its classic patterns are still in production. After the fall of communism in Hungary, the factory was privatized and is now 75% owned by its management and workers, exporting to over 60 countries of the world.

Hungarian domestic animals

There are specifically Hungarian breeds of domestic animals which are seen as national symbols in Hungary: * Long-horn Hungarian Grey Cattle - Hungarian breed, traditionally kept in the open full year. Nowadays, they are raised for infant food due to natural, healthy meat. * Dogs ** Hungarian Vizsla - one of the oldest hunting dogs in the world. The ancestors of this dog came into the

Carpathian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large Sedimentary basin, basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The Geomorphology, geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewh ...

with the nomadic Hungarian tribes. ** Puli - small shepherd dog **

Komondor The Komondor (), also known as the Hungarian sheepdog, is a large, white-coloured Hungarian breed of livestock guardian dog with a long, corded coat. Sometimes referred to as 'mop dogs', the Komondor is a long-established dog breed commonly e ...

- large shepherd dog, was brought to Hungary a thousand years ago by nomadic

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...

. **

Kuvasz The Kuvasz is a traditional Hungarian breed of flock guardian dog. Mention of the breed can be found in old Hungarian texts. They have historically been royal guard dogs, or guarded livestock, but have been increasingly found in homes as pets ...

- large shepherd dog ** Pumi - small shepherd dog ** ''Magyar Agár'' ( Hungarian Greyhound) was already known in the 8th century. It is as old as the Vizsla. ** Transylvanian Bloodhound - Hungarian hound **

Mudi The Mudi is a herding dog breed from Hungary. It is closely related to the Puli and Pumi, from which it was separated in the 1930s. They continue to be used in herding, as well as participating in a variety of dog sports. History The ...

- shepherd dog * Hungarian thoroughbred horses - a mid-19th century mixture of the best Arab and English racehorse characteristics. *

Mangalica The Mangalica (also Mangalitsa or Mangalitza) is a Hungarian breed of domestic pig. It was developed in the mid-19th century by crossbreeding breeds from the nearby Romanian Salonta (Hungarian: ''Nagyszalonta'', colloquially ''Szalonta' ...

, a breed of pig, with long curly hair and relatively fatty meat, which makes them ideal for making

sausages A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. W ...

and

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 ...

Sport

Only seven countries (USA, USSR, UK, France, Italy, China, and Germany) have won more Summer Olympic gold medals than

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

. Hungary has the second most Olympic gold medals per capita in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

. Hungary has the ninth highest, out of 211 participating nations, all-time total medal count for the Olympic Games, with a total of 465 medals. This despite the fact that Hungary was punished and barred from participation in the

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Olympics. In the Summer Olympics, Hungary was always been among the top 10 best nations (in gold medal count) between 1928 and 1996, when they were allowed to compete. Hungary had the third most gold medals in 1936, 1952, 1956, and 1960. ''See:

All-time Olympic Games medal table The all-time medal table for all Olympic Games from 1896 to 2022, including Summer Olympic Games, Winter Olympic Games, and a combined total of both, is tabulated below. These Olympic medal counts do not include the 1906 Intercalated Games whic ...

'' (2008 data) Among the most famous Hungarians is footballer

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forwar ...

(1927–2006). He scored 84 goals in 85 internationals for

, and 511 goals in 533 matches in the Hungarian and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

leagues. Puskás played in the 1954 FIFA World Cup Final against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. In 1958, after the Hungarian Revolution, he emigrated to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, where he played on the legendary

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

team that also included

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

and

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish footballer who played as an outside left. He was voted by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) as the greatest Spanish footballer ...

. Hungarians are also known for their prowess at

water sports Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

, mainly

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

(See:

Water polo at the Summer Olympics Water polo has been part of the Summer Olympics program since the second games, in 1900. A women's water polo tournament was introduced for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Hungary has been the most successful country in men's tournament, while the Uni ...

) (in which they defeated the Soviet team in 1956), and

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other act ...

(they have won multiple medals).

Krisztina Egerszegi Krisztina Egerszegi (; born 16 August 1974) is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five-time Olympic cham ...

is one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three-time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five time Olympic champion in swimming; and one of three individuals to have ever won the same swimming event at three consecutive Summer Olympics. She is currently also the only female swimmer who won five individual Olympic gold medals.Krisztina Egerszegi
Sports-reference.com.Krisztina EGERSZEGI
Olympic.org. As a player, till date Dezső Gyarmati (1927–2013) is the first and only athlete (man or woman) to win five Olympic medals in water polo: three gold, one silver and one bronze. As a head coach, he guided the

Hungary men's national water polo team The Hungary men's national water polo team represents Hungary in international men's water polo competitions and is controlled by the Hungarian Water Polo Association. It is considered the world's List of water polo world medalists#Men's water pol ...

to three Olympic medals: one gold, one silver and one bronze, making him one of the most successful water polo coaches in Olympic history, and the only man to win Olympic gold in water polo as player and head coach in the last 100 years. In 2013,

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

described him as a "legendary water polo player and coach", and "one of the best players the game ever seen and in fact the most decorated in history". Despite being landlocked, the presence of two major rivers (the Duna and the

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...

) and a major lake (

Balaton Lake Balaton is a lake in Hungary, the largest lake in Central Europe Balaton may also refer to: * 2242 Balaton, a main-belt asteroid * Balaton (car), a Hungarian microcar * Balaton (village), in Heves county, Hungary * Balaton, Minnesota, a c ...

), provide excellent opportunities to practice water sports. In recent years there has also been a steady rise in the number of golfers in the country; the sport has developed much over the past 20 years (after the fall of Socialism), but the economic situation hinders further development of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

courses. Some of the world's best

sabre A sabre (French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as t ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

athletes have historically hailed from Hungary. Hungary's national basketball team was one of Europe's major basketball forces from the mid-1940s until the mid-1960s when it won several medals at the

European Basketball Championship EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

and often qualified for the

. In the past decades, the team showed its potential less frequently. Its most famous player in recent decades has been Kornél Dávid. The Hungarian national ice hockey team also qualified for their first IIHF World Championship in more than 70 years.

Games

Traditional toys are made from various plants, for example

juglans Walnut trees are any species of tree in the plant genus ''Juglans'', the type genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are referred to as walnuts. All species are deciduous trees, tall, with pinnate leaves , with 5–25 leaflets ...

(dió), nuts (mogyoró) or

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

. "Erre csörög a dió, arra meg a mogyoró" is one of the most famous Magyar

children's game This is a list of games that used to be played by children, some of which are still being played today. Traditional children's games do not include commercial products such as board games but do include games which require props such as hopscotch ...

Ulti Ulti or Ultimó, is Hungary's national trick-taking card game for three players. It is virtually unknown outside its home borders. History Its name derives from the winning of the last trick with the lowest trump, a feature derived from several g ...

is one of the most famous

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

s played by a 32-card set so-called: "Magyar kártya", exactly: "Tell-Karte" with German decks. Button football is a tabletop game which is known in Europe, typically in Hungary. The

Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...

debuted in Hungary in 1977 and gained international fame. Hungary has produced many top-level

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

players, notably Judith Polgar and

Peter Leko Peter Leko ( hu, Lékó Péter; born September 8, 1979) is a Hungarian chess player and commentator. He became the world's youngest grandmaster in 1994. He narrowly missed winning the Classical World Chess Championship 2004: the match was dra ...

. The 45th

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 an ...

is planned for Budapest in 2024.

Flag

The

flag of Hungary The national flag of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország zászlaja) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green (red-white-green). In this exact form, it has been the official flag of Hungary since 23 May 1957. The flag's form originates from nati ...

is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green (red-white-green). This revised style was adopted on the 12th of October 1957 following the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. The colours of were used during the coronation of Matthias II in 1608. It is speculated that the colours and their relationship with the Hungarian monarchy date back to the 13th century. The colours of the flag are also present in the traditional Hungarian Coat of Arms. The red is thought to signify the various battles which Hungary has fought in, whilst the white and green denote Hungary's rivers and mountains respectively.

References

External links

Culture of Hungary (Film, Fine arts, Folklore, Literature, Music, Press and Theatre)
summarized at the administrative website of Hungary

{{cite journal , author-link = Agnes Varkonyi , title = Copyright: Connections Between Elite Culture and Mass Culture in Hungary , journal = Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae , volume = 33 , pages = 91–92 , date = 1987

Architecture

Music

Literature

Film

Famous Hungarians in the film industry

Hollywood

Great Britain

Germany

Israel

Czechoslovakia

Canada

Hungary

Art movies

Cuisine

Alcoholic beverages

Spa culture

The wine-growing terroir of Egerszalók

The thermal lake of Hévíz

Folk dance

Embroidery

Folk costumes (17th–19th centuries)

Ceramics

Black pottery

Herend Porcelain

Hungarian domestic animals

Sport

Games

Flag

See also

References

External links