Memorials
Hungarian Memorials
Memorials
Historic and national memorials are sites related to decisive events in Hungarian history. Currently, there are 21 national and 64 historic memorials in Hungary, marked by commemorative columns (“stelae”) placed by NÖRI. The national memorials that determine the Hungarian national identity are key locations in our history that are enshrined in law by the National Assembly based on the recommendation of the NEKB. The historic memorials are also classified as outstanding due to the historical events that took place there and they are awarded this title by a Decree of the Government.
One of NÖRI’s key missions is to raise awareness of the memorials and thereby our common past. To that end, it disseminates publications, organises conferences and to promote them has issued a commemorative coin series since 2014 in conjunction with the National Bank of Hungary.
Memorials’ Day, the nationwide program launched by the Institute in 2016, provides an opportunity for the memorials to demonstrate their unique values. NÖRI founded the Memorial of the Year Award in 2020 and the Family-Friendly Memorial of the Year Award in 2023 to recognise the respectively outstandingmemorials.
NÖRI considers the collection, registration and promotion of beyond the borders Hungarian memorials one of its key missions. This is why the Memorial Name Directory was created as an independent development under the Hungarian National Name Directory. In addition to presenting the national and historical memorial sites and the protected graves forming part of the National Graveyard, the Memorial Name Directory contains a database of beyond-the-borders Hungarian memorials, including location on the map and a description of the sites. External users may also contribute to the collection by submitting an individual or group recommendation and by completing a data sheet, which may be accessed through the links at the bottom of the page, after registration and login.
A key strategic objective of the new system is, on the one hand, to support the tourism and national unity of visitors to Hungarian areas beyond the borders and, on the other, to provide an opportunity for Hungarians living beyond the borders to display the sites they consider important on the page, thus ensuring the aggregation of the built imprints of Hungarian history.
The National Pedagogy of Memory Programme
The National Pedagogy of Memory Programme
The program was launched by NÖRI to engage the youth through positive experiences and to raise their awareness of Hungarian history. Its aim is to strengthen national identity through the cooperation between the memorials and public education actors as well as to make our past known as thoroughly as possible. The declared pedagogicalmethodological focus of the program is on the transfer of knowledge and the development of national feeling and emotional attachment to the homeland. It provides a basis for an explorative and understanding knowledge of the past, an opportunity for active, on-the-spot learning, individual creativity and self-expression and the evaluation and experience of the significance of historical events. It offers a sense of involvement, of identification with the heroes and role models.
Its target group are children of the age of 12 to 18 and the teachers who educate and teach in the unity of value, experience and knowledge transfer as well as families who are the guardians of Hungarian identity. Our partners include the memorials themselves, state and church public education and vocational training institutions and their maintainers and, in the professional field, the Professional Association of History Teachers, whose experts are the developers of active methodological aids to the memorials.
Beyond-the-Borders Hungarian Memorials
Further informations: National Heritage Institute Headquarters: Fiumei Road 16–18, 1086 Budapest
Phone number: +36 795 3179, +36 1 795 0006
E-mail: nori@nori.gov.hu facebook.com/Nemzeti Örökség Intézete
Salgótarjáni Street Jewish Cemetery
Park of Mourning
Graveyard
Memorials
Fiumei Road Graveyard
National Park of Mourning
The National Heritage Institute - an Introduction
Fiumei Road Graveyard
The National Heritage Institute (“NÖRI”), as an institution of the Prime Minister’s Office, is the assets manager and operator of sites of symbolic importance for the past and historical memory of our nation, such as the Fiumei Road Graveyard, the Salgótarjáni Street Jewish Cemetery and the National Park of Mourning of the New Public Cemetery. NÖRI is also the operative organisation of the National Memorial and Piety Committee (“NEKB”) that exercises the right of disposal over the graves protected as part of the National Graveyard and acts as an umbrella organisation for national and historic memorials. In addition to preserving our national heritage, NÖRI brings the memory of the great figures of our history closer to wider audiences through commemorations, conferences and diverse cultural programs. The National Pedagogy of Memory Programme is at the forefront of NÖRI’s activities. It is intended to engender genuine experiences and emotions to expand students’ knowledge, exploiting educational opportunities outside the classroom. An increasingly important task of NÖRI is the identification and registration on the Hungarian National Name Directory of sites and graves of Hungarian relevance beyond the borders in order to contribute to the preservation of the awareness of the Hungarian origins of our compatriotes living beyond the borders and to strengthen their sense of belonging.
Fiumei Road Graveyard is more than a graveyard: it is one of Hungary’s largest collections of statues on a 56-hectare, arboretum-like landscaped area. Fiumei Road Graveyard opened in 1849 as the public cemetery of Pest and is now the only cemetery that is a national memorial in its entirety, an open-air history book of modern-day Hungary where one will find traces of the Age of Dualism, national development, communism, the 1848–49 Revolution and War of Independence and the 1956 Revolution as well as the democratic multi-party system. Among the greats of Hungarian culture, Béni Egressy, the composer of “Szózat” (The Summons) was the first, and Mihály Vörösmarty, the author of “Szózat” was the second to be buried here. The mausoleums of Count Lajos Batthyány, Ferenc Deák and Lajos Kossuth transformed the cemetery into a national place of worship. It is the resting place of nearly two thousand famous Hungarians, including Mór Jókai, János Arany, Endre Ady, Attila József, Ferenc Erkel, Mihály Munkácsy, Artúr Görgey, György Klapka, József Antall and Imre Kertész.
Salgótarjáni Street Jewish Cemetery
Salgótarjáni Street
National Park of Mourning
National Graveyard
The National Heritage Institute is a proud and active member of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE), and the Fiumei Road Graveyard and the Salgótarjáni Street Jewish Cemetery are parts of the European Cemeteries Route network.
We are convinced that an awareness of the oeuvres of the people resting in the cemetery and the architectural and sculptural masterpieces erected in their honour contributes greatly to the strengthening of our national identity. Visitors can choose from almost 50 thematic walks on NÖRI’s website. Concerts, artistic performances and other colourful events also await visitors here.
Jewish Cemetery is a monument protected in its entirety. Its site was separated from the neighbouring public cemetery after the first Jewish cemeteries in Pest were full. It was the sole cemetery of the Pest Jewry from its opening in 1874 until 1892 that, alongside today’s Fiumei Road Graveyard, provides a complete view of Hungary on its path to developing a middle class and experiencing an economic golden age up until the early 1920s. Much of its unparalleled built heritage is provided by the mausoleums of the business elite arising during the Age of Dualism. At the same time, the cemetery is also a reminder of the 20th century tragedy of Hungary’s Jewry: for example, there is the mausoleum ‒ ornamented with Jewish symbols and Hungarian motifs ‒ of Vilmos Vázsonyi, the first Hungarian minister of Jewish origin, but there is also a memorial to the victims of the Budapest Ghetto, many of whom are buried here. The remarkable atmosphere of the cemetery, which was opened to visitors in 2016, is created by the particular symbiosis of buildings and vegetation. Themed walks organized by NÖRI reveal not only the secrets of the cemetery but they also give a glimpse into Jewish culture.
The National Park of Mourning located in the New Public Cemetery, together with the nearby Penitentiary as well as the prisoners’ cemeteries in Vác, Márianosztra and Sopronkőhida, is a national memorial to the victims of communism and also a tribute to the events of 1956 and 1989. The visitor center built on the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution displays interactive content and complements, with information based on our current knowledge, the memorial site evoking emotions, while also clarifying the history of parcels 298, 300 and 301 and the individuals lying therein, about whom 1,200 personal biographies are now available in NÖRI’s database. Among many other martyrs, this is the gravesite of Prime Minister Imre Nagy and Minister of Defense Pál Maléter as well as the memorial site of István Sándor, a beatified Salesian monk. Executed, murdered heroes and innocent victims, many of whom perished in captivity, lie alongside war and common law criminals in graves frequently unmarked even today, which is why respectful grave research continues unabated. NÖRI welcomes visitors with themed walks and unconventional history classes on site.
The National Graveyard is a virtual cemetery, it was created in order to protect the burial places of individuals who made a lasting contribution to the Hungarian nation. It now numbers more than 6,300 graves nationwide. In accordance with the decision of the NEKB, the graves of outstanding historical personalities, scientists, artists, soldiers, athletes and martyrs of the Hungarian nation can become part of the National Graveyard. They include a range of graves from the simplest to such remarkable sites as the Crypt of the Palatine in Buda Castle or the graves of the Golden Team in St. Stephen’s Basilica. Graves listed in the National Graveyard cannot be removed and NÖRI exercises the right of disposal over them: it keeps a register of protected graves, assesses their condition and, if justified or an important anniversary connected with the person resting there is approaching, it restores them or improves their condition. Thus, among others, the grave of Alfréd Hajós in Budapest and the memorials of Ferenc Kazinczy in Széphalom, Ferenc Kölcsey in Szatmárcseke and Mihály Pollack in Tahitótfalu were restored. The aim of NÖRI is to mark the protected graves by graveyard with so-called smart parcel stones with which visitors can learn more about the graves designated as part of the National Graveyard and the people resting therein.
