The professor of the University of Debrecen received a Ferenc Kolcsey medallion.
Several hundred people participated in the commemoration held on the occasion of the Hungarian Culture Day on 16 January, in Szatmarcseke, Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg County. The Ferenc Kolcsey medallion was awarded by tradition and the shrine of the author of Himnusz was garlanded as well.
At the ecumenical service held in the protestant church of the community, the representatives of the historical churches preached. Roman Catholic bishop Nandor Bosak called 22 January the birthday of Hungarian culture and that of the Himnusz, which, as he said, provides an opportunity for Hungarians to reconsider what is behind them and to plan their future.
Following the service the Ferenc Kolcsey medallion was awarded: this year, to Andras Gorombei, Kossuth-prize winner literary historian and university professor. Only those representatives of the Hungarian artist society may receive this award who contributed a lot to the enrichment of the national and universal culture.
“The Himnusz is the symbol of the whole Hungarian nation, a cohesive force for the nation.” – said Andras Gorombei. According to him, this poem of Kolcsey’s added a lot to the definition of the Hungarian self-image and today, despite the present hard times, it plays an important role in strengthening the spiritual coherence of Hungarians.
The Hungarian Culture Day has been celebrated on the 22 January since 1989 as a commemoration of the fact that according to the testimony of the manuscript, Kolcsey finished the Himnusz on this day in 1823, in Szatmarcseke.
