Interview about the results of the Institute of Hungarian Studies, new projects, headwinds, scientific canons, the past and present of Hungarian prehistory research. -Tibor Franka interviewed Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, Director General, in the weekly magazine, Magyar Demokrata. The fact is that the Institute of Hungarian Research has succeeded where others have not. 

The man of outstanding talents originally was not a candidate for the royal title. In the volatile environment of the Kingdom of Hungary, even members of the royal family who were not directly contenders to the throne had to be prepared for any eventuality. To better understand the conditions in the Carpathian Basin immediately before the accession of Béla III, here is a short quote from the great traveller Abu Hamid al-Gharnati, who called the Hungarians Bashkirs and wrote many interesting things about them:

The Institute for Hungarian Studies introduced its activity to the New York Hungarian Scientific Society. Péter B. Nagy, MKB Consul, and Dr Tamás Tét Novák, Attaché invited Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, Miklós Makoldi and Endre Neparáczki to deliver a presentation in New York. After the welcoming speech of President Dorottya Nagy-Szakál MD PhD, the scientific community of the Hungarian diaspora in New York listened with great interest to the presentations that were mainly aimed at summarizing the last 200 years of Hungarian prehistoric research and presenting the achievements and research activities of the Institute for Hungarian Studies.

Prof. Dr Miklós Kásler was accompanied by two senior researchers of our institute as part of the delegation accompanying the Minister of Human Resources to a country of outstanding importance from the point of view of Hungarian prehistory. Csaba Hidán and István Nagy-Luttenberger, representing the Institute for Hungarian Studies, took part in a special two-day mission to Georgia on behalf of Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, Director General of the Institute. Our researchers met Tariel Kiparoidze, heritage protection expert in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Georgia.

As it has been recently reported, Csaba Hidán and István Nagy-Luttenberger, our senior researchers representing the Institute for Hungarian Research, took part in a special two-day mission to Georgia in early December, which proved to be so successful that 10 days later the parties met again in Hungary to start their joint work. Yesterday, George Sharvashidze, Rector of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Vakhtang Lichelit, archaeology professor were received by Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, Director General, who introduced our institute. The parties discussed the joint archaeogenetic, archaeological, linguistic, historical and ethnographic research projects.

On the occasion of his visit to New York, the Director General of the Institute for Hungarian Studies, Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, made a special request to visit these two memorial sites. We would like to thank the Hungarian Consulate for organizing the wreath-laying ceremony on such short notice. Our Director General, accompanied by Péter B. Nagy, MKB Consul, laid the wreath of remembrance at the 1956 Revolution Memorial.

Trianon 101 - Mikes 70, a study day was held at Ichthus Kerk by Károly Pánczél, Member of Parliament, Chairman of the National Unity Committee of the Hungarian Parliament and Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, Director General of the Institute for Hungarian Studies, who visited the Netherlands at the invitation of the organiser of the event, Ákos Urbán (Hungarian Association of the Netherlands).

On the initiative of the Franciscan monk, Csaba Böjte, a workshop conference entitled "The possibilities of renovation, utilization and profitable operation of the Bethlen Castle in Mures County" was organised by the László Teleki Foundation and the Saint László Foundation, in Keresd, Mures County on 22 September, with the participation of the Institute of Hungarian Research.

After the wreath-laying ceremony, Gábor Horváth-Lugossy, our Director General spoke to Gábor Vásárhelyi (Béla Bartók's successor), who said that one of the most important things to clarify about Béla Bartók's life and his intellectual legacy as a composer, pianist, folk music researcher, folk music collector and music academy teacher, among others, is that posterity should know that Béla Bartók never emigrated from Hungary and never renounced his homeland.

"The theory that a single Hungarian-speaking block moved in the Carpathian Basin in 895 and absorbed a single, non-Hungarian-speaking indigenous population has been disproved. Based on written sources related to the ancient Hungarian script, the so-called Runic script, it can be stated that there were people in the Avar Empire who spoke Hungarian, and since their language has survived, they could not have been few in number, told Dr Bence Fehér, head of the Centre for Classical Philology at the Institute of Hungarian Research to weekly magazine, Demokrata."