Demeter Zsófia - Gelencsér Ferenc: Örvendezz király város! - Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. B. sorozat 51. A Fejér Megyei Múzeumegyesült kiadványai 8. (Székesfehérvár, 2002)
A tanulmány forrásai
time that the two houses of Parliament passed a law immortalizing the memory of St. Stephen, Hungary’s first king, making 20th August, St. Stephen’s day a national holiday, which has been celebrated ever since then. The guests arrived among the formalities and the preparations fitting for the significance of the event. Radio reports were made at the scene, Hungarian and German film crews were in action making films. The correspondants from the telephone stations set up in the Town Hall sent their reports, to where the station of the 57th office in Budapest had moved. The post office made special celebratory post marks. The first floor of the Town Hall was totally reorganized for the parliamentary offices, Sergeants-at-arms, office directors, press correspondants as well as the guards. The governor couple rested in the mayor’s room after the session. There hadn’t been a day like this in Székesfehérvár since 1537, when the last Session of the Parliament had been held. Székesfehérvár was now the capital city again for one day, and rightly made it memorable. On the Thursday everything was ready. Before this there had been tense preparation. Those responsible for decorating the town worked the whole week, night and day, since every possibility had to be weighed up, thus it wasn’t just the chosen places that had to be decorated, the Town Hall Courtyard, the station, and the route of the procession, but in the case of rain, the theatre and St. Stephen’s Hall, too. The Town Hall Courtyard was decorated with light-brown bunting, flags and coats of arms. Entrance to the Hall of the Session of the Parliament was only permitted with a pass bearing the name of the holder, issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, but free tickets for the seats and places along the processional route could be obtained by anybody who requsted one in time. The crowds outside were able to hear all the events broadcast on loudspeakers. The celebration began at 9.00 am with a mass led by the Cardinal. A large contingent of assembly participants arrived by car, but 500 guests, however, arrived on a special train at 4.00 pm., which later returned to Budapest at 9.30 pm. Papal nuncio to Budapest, Angelo Rótta arrived as guest for the event as well as the delegation from the Italian and German armies, led by Generals Marinetti and Kluge. In addition, there were diplomats and Lord Lieutenants, members of the British Parliament and a galaxy of ladies, who occupied the boxes aligning the three walls of the yard. After the National Anthem, the combined two houses of the Parliament got to business, discussing the issue of immortalizing the memory of King St. Stephen. The Bill was introduced by Prime Minister Béla Imrédy to much enthusiastic applause and cheering, and then he read the preamble. The Bill contained the plan for immortalizing the memory of King St. Stephen, for setting aside August 20 as a national holiday and the proclamation clause. Jusztinián Serédi and Móric Tomcsányi from the Upper House and Bálint Hóman and Zoltán Tildy from the Lower House contributed to the discussion one after the other. After the enthusiastic celebration of the speakers the Bill was passed by the assembly, then the Prime Minister handed over the text to the Governor, who provided the proclamation clause, then signed his name. The Herend writing set 240
