Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1999-12-01 / 4. szám

Most people are familiar with the great history of Rome, the Eternal City and (he cultural and political capital of Italy. For centuries the city has been a place of either temporary or permanent residence and a pilgrimage point for artists and writers from outside Italy, including Franz Liszt, Goethe and Nicolas Poussin. It is not surprising, then, to find a well-established and flourishing Hungarian center for research and cultural exchange there, in the stunning 17th-century Palazzo Falconieri along the picturesque Tiber River.

The Hungarian Academy in Rome was founded by the Hungarian government in the early 20th century as a way of “opening new doors” toward Europe. Formal studies by Hungarians in modem Italy, a nation unified in 1861, had already taken place as early as 1880 after Pope Leo XIII opened certain Vatican archives for academic use. Through the efforts of Vilmos Fraknói, a canon and member of the Academy of Sciences of Budapest, the first non-religious research institute for Hungarians was established in Rome. In what is today the Hungarian Embassy, Fraknói established the Academy of Fine Arts. Linder his guidance the first systematic studies and relative publications took place, among them “Vatican Illustrated History of the Hungarian Kingdom. ”

The Royal Academy of Hungary in Rome, the original name of the present academy, was established in 1928 by

decree of Kunó Klébelsberg, then Hungary's minister of Religion and Public Education.

The Royal Academy effectively replaced the Fine Arts Academy. The Hungarian government purchased the Palazzo Falconieri in the same year and the edifice has remained under Hungarian control since that time. The academy was at first divided into various fields of study with a three-part objective: promoting the study of history, fine arts and theology. The Hungarian government currently sponsors academies or institutes of a similar nature in seventeen countries, mostly in Europe.

Many illustrious Hungarian artists have studied and done research here, among them composer Zoltán Kodály and painter Pál C. Molnár. For many years the academy published an annual summaiy called L'Annuario, which detailed the Italian-Hungarian cultural rapport and the activities of scholarship students. In 1948 the Academy became officially linked to the Hungarian Embassy in Italy. Since 1981 it is once again under the jurisdiction of the now-renamed Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education.

The academy continually hosts grant

and scholarship winners who are students, artists or researchers. A nearby “pallazzina,” with thirteen apartments, provides sleeping and living quarters. In general, about twenty people come here annually for extended research and study, usually for three to twelve months. In addition, twenty to forty scholarship students arrive each year for shorter periods, i.e., from one week to two months. The academy recently modernized itself and now offers its scholars up-to-date resources. Many archives and libraries in Rome and in the Vatican are available to those who study

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BY ANTONIO PROCACCINI jf*

Antonio Procaccini (center) with Dr. László Csorba and Tamás Korsós. (Right) A sample of the beautiful ceiling.

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