Mission

From July 1, 2024, Hungary will take over the presidency of the European Union, and the Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Center will also be officially established. According to our basic stance, this is not a chance encounter of parallel worlds, but can be a fate-shaping alignment – if we make it so.

The mission of the Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Center is to strengthen Hungarian identity, to stake out the freedom of somewhere, that is, our own reality, as opposed to the landlessness of the freedom of anywhere. Our freedom of action is based on the triad of faith, knowledge and will.

In our interpretation, for 1100 years, we Hungarians have been creating a homeland from pasture in the Carpathian Basin. Our holy king, Stephen, founded a European Christian state.

Since then, we have been protecting the Christian way of life, the God of Hungarians signals our responsibility all over the world every noon in the form of bell ringing.

During our national awakening, the greats of the reform era inspired this Christian state to become the homeland of all Hungarians. And then it became clear to Europe that here, a revolutionary is called a national guardsman, a soldier of the homeland fights for freedom. We have been and will be present at the funeral of every empire that wants to subjugate us.

This is what our history is about: 1100 years in Europe, 20 years in the Union.

We look at the world in Hungarian, and we know from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán: whoever looks at the world in Hungarian sees with the eyes of Saint Stephen. To see with Saint Stephen’s eyes means you don’t forget: the borders of the Union do not coincide with the borders of Europe. The two are not the same either in time or space.

Europe as an idea is a world-shaping force, the European Union is a narrowed state of consciousness.

Therefore, we think not only in terms of the Union, but in terms of all of Europe.

We are Hungarians, therefore Europeans. Hungarian culture is an added value to the world. Thus we were, we are, and we will be.

The public collection center is not a self-serving set of institutions. It is not created just to exist, but to benefit the whole of Hungarian and universal culture. As a center of authentic knowledge and meaningful experience transfer, we view Hungarians not as an audience, but as a community, not as culture consumers, but as culture bearers.

We think in terms of systems of alliance. As a sub-unit of a larger whole, we set our goals to be achieved from the perspective of the larger whole.

The public collection center also plays its part in the culture war gaining ground on a global level. But for us, this culture war is not present-focused and not Hungary-focused. What’s at stake in the culture war is whether there will still be a nation living in Hungarian native language culture in Europe a hundred years from now.

As a public collection center, we know: our present is simultaneously a present about the past and a present about the future – at the same time, we don’t forget to live as our own contemporaries.

Sándor Weöres writes: “The earth below you, the sky above you, the ladder within you.” The public collection center is the institutional equivalent of this ladder: God above all, the homeland under our feet, we are the ladder.

Notes:

 Historical references:

“1100 years in Europe”: Refers to the traditional dating of Hungarian settlement in the Carpathian Basin (around 895 AD).

“20 years in the Union”: Hungary joined the European Union in 2004.

“Saint Stephen”: The first King of Hungary (1000-1038 AD), who established the Christian Hungarian state.

Cultural and religious references:

“God of Hungarians” and “bell ringing at noon”: Refers to the tradition of ringing church bells at noon, commemorating the 1456 victory against the Ottoman Empire at the Siege of Belgrade.

“Reform era”: A period of modernization in Hungarian history (1825-1848).

Political context:

The text mentions Hungary taking over the presidency of the European Union, which is a rotating position among EU member states.

Viktor Orbán is the current Prime Minister of Hungary, known for his conservative and nationalist policies.

Institutional context:

The Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Center is a new institution being established, with a mission to strengthen Hungarian national identity.

Philosophical concepts:

“Freedom of somewhere” vs. “freedom of anywhere”: A distinction between national identity and globalism.

“Culture war”: Refers to ideological conflicts over cultural values and national identity.

Literary reference:

The quote “The earth below you, the sky above you, the ladder within you” is from Sándor Weöres, a significant 20th-century Hungarian poet.