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Mr Orbán stressed that if a nation loses its folk culture, it loses its ability to judge what is good and what is bad, becomes confused, and does not know what it is that harms it and what it is that serves its benefit.
“And that’s when confused ideologies, upside-down truths, absurd arguments emerge such as that the family is not a union between a man and a woman, but one of endless varieties of random configurations. That diversity is a value even if it leads to crime and terror, or that in order that we may live in peace, we must continue a hopeless war,” he said, adding that the list of “annoying and sick brainchildren” goes on.
“This week, I had the good fortune of taking part in a debate in Strasbourg, and believe me, the situation is grave,” he observed.
The Prime Minister said “we should be grateful to the Almighty” that over here things are still in their place, common sense still works, and the order that seeps through from folk culture into our present-day lives is still intact.
He warned that the world was undergoing enormous changes, technological innovations turned our lives upside down, every day millions of people set out in order to find new homes, and in our immediate neighbourhood a bloody war was being waged.
Meanwhile, he continued, it is the Hungarians who must decide which changes are good and deserve our support, and which ones are harmful; this deliberation requires “a stable Archimedean point.”
The Prime Minister described Hungarian culture, including tangible cultural heritage, as such an Archimedean point of Hungarian life and Hungarian future.
Quoting the father of the Hungarian folk dance movement Ferenc Sebő, Mr Orbán stressed that traditions must be not fostered because they are not sick and neither should they be guarded as they are not prisoners; our traditions can only survive if we immerse ourselves in them.
In reference to the motifs of an old shaving mirror, a woman’s bonnet and a box decorated with tulips, he said these are the objects of a healthy Hungarian world where things are still in their natural places.
“The tulip grows on the box, the upside-down heart is a man. Such is marriage. The mother is a woman, and the father is a man,” he stated.
He described the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Ethnography as “another sentinel post,” and stressed that with this they strengthen the order that helps the Hungarian community survive. In a world-class museum we opened a world-class exhibition, he stated.
Mr Orbán also highlighted that Városliget (City Park) was not just a public park, but also one of the pilgrimage sites of Hungarian national culture, and it was the duty of the government to tidy and renew it.
The Prime Minister recalled that the building of the Museum of Ethnography had opened in May 2022. That was still the period of “the great march,” before the era of pandemics, the war, sanctions and inflation, he pointed out.
Since then, the implementation of all the overarching plans has slowed down and lost momentum; lately, we have been busy trying to pull ourselves out of all these troubles, he observed.
He added that we were now slowly overcoming these problems. Naturally, 2025 and 2026 will be dedicated to improving the lives of families and small businesses, but after that we can again set out on greater adventures, “it is time for architects and designers to start sharpening their pencils again,” he said.
Mr Orbán highlighted that not only we liked the building of the Museum of Ethnography; the whole world believes it is beautiful: it has received twelve international awards. It is double the joy if we have a Hungarian, in this case, Marcel Ferencz, to thank for such a fantastic building, he said, praising the architect.
He stressed that this event was part of the efforts aimed at the renewal of the entire City Park. “We believe that Városliget is not just a public park, but also one of the pilgrimage sites of Hungarian national culture,” he said.
Years ago, the City Park was in a scandalous state, and the capital was not in the position or perhaps had no intention to improve its condition. Therefore, the government had to step in, he recalled.
We decided to tidy it up and to renew it. It does not befit a continuously and spectacularly growing and strengthening country to have a large park which is in such a shabby state, the Prime Minister warned.
Therefore, the government launched the Liget Budapest project, one of Europe’s most significant, largest and most sophisticated cultural developments, he observed, adding that we were additionally compelled to realise this project in a headwind, but this is now in the past. The good cause has finally prevailed, and from this the whole of Hungary has benefited, he stated.
By the Prime Minister’s account, the rehabilitation of the park is making good progress, and now a new permanent exhibition was created in the Museum of Ethnography. Now, it is not just a beautiful exterior, but also a beautiful interior waiting to be appreciated. With the new permanent exhibition, the museum may fulfil its function, he said, praising the exhibition installed on a ground space of some 3,000 square metres.
