There’s a nice little catfight going on down in the southern capital of Pécs, where the Fidesz-KDNP mayor, Zsolt Páva, is being denounced by his socialist enemies for wanting to spend some of the cash-strapped city’s scarce financial resources buying up a private collection of porcelain. According to nol.hu, Bertalan Tóth, president of the local Socialist chapter, criticized Páva’s plans to spend Ft 350 million (€1.3 million) to purchase a collection of 600 items made at the Pécs Zsolnay porcelain factory, which are currently owned by US collector László Gyugyi. (The Hungarian-American Gyugyi is said to have offered to sell the collection to the Pécs government for half its commercial value.) The paper Tóth as saying that Páva is spending money that “can only be covered by playing the lottery.” Not sure if that is true, but it certainly seems a better bet than getting the money unloading the municipality’s shares in the money-bleeding Zsolnay factory.
Pécs mayor slammed for blowing struggling city’s cash on porcelain tchotchkes
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The porcelain collection should be donated by
László Gyugyi (sounds like, Leslie Grudge)to
Pécs free of charge.
Just pay the freight charges,anyway. And, because this is Hungary, the shipping costs will probably
eqaul the cost of the porcelain!
The ‘discounted’ price works out to more than 2000 Euros for each of the 600 pieces on average. And we thought Pecs was in the hole. Duh!
One of the very few artistically and culturally significant gifts Hungary has bestowed on the world is represented in this collection. It would be a real tragedy if this collection is not brought back to Hungary. I am not surprised by this at all. Very typical farmer/peasant mentality. No real sense of pride. I hope they don’t come up with the money so I can buy the collection myself and keep it away from the unappreciative people of Pecs.
This is the finest collection of antique Zsolnay in the world. Much of it dates from the art nouveau period, which was the golden age for Hungary’s decorative arts. I have seen it on several occasions, most recently in New York at the Forbes Gallery. It’s a steal at $1.3 million, worth several times that amount. (FYI, museum quality art nouveau Zsolnay pieces have sold US$25,000 and more). Ask our dealer friend JJ above. Gyugyi has spent a lifetime assembling this fabulous collection. If the collection is lost to the winds, it would be a terrible disservice to Hungary’s cultural legacy.
As someone who has admired Art Noveau for many years, and as someone who appreciated the Hungarian examples of the style, this hurts.
For all the many billions that we have been lent or given by the west before and after communism, this is what it comes to.
Somehow the money disappeared with no real result in terms of economic growth or job creation. A hundred billion Euros later, we can’t even acquire a historic porcelain collection. I say put the collection up for international auction. We can’t afford it even at half price.
This is even worse than the “farmer peasant mentality” that JJ decries. It’s one thing for our govt. and public entities to cry piss poor poverty, but the fact that we don’t have a wealthy cultured upper crust that could bring the collection home, 20 years after the fall of communism, speaks volumes about us. Where are our millionaire philanthropists?
We always have been serfs, and the serf in us never knows what to do with billions, or how to make the money grow.
@ Laci;
For once I have to disagree with you. No, we have not always been serfs…we have just been reduced to that and finally believe that we are.
Last year I was challenged to develop my understanding of Hungary’s 20th century economic history, and what I found was that the current economic woes are largely the result of the country being used by both the communists and the West as an economic idealism battleground. Unscrupulous loan making (by the west) and loan taking (by the communist govt), and the unwise spending of loan money on lifestyle expenses has left the country with a huge debt and nothing to show for it. I also read somewhere that the turks ‘introduced’ feudalism to Hungary which was a distinct step backwards.
I thought one of the conversations on another thread was interesting about comparing current Hungary to the Weimar Republic.
Anyway, to the topic at hand.
I love the arts, and I love visiting museums etc. I really do appreciate the value of bringing national treasures home…but here’s where I have a problem…when there is so little money available for basic human services, and just things like facilities and infrastructure maintenance, it’s hard to justify spending large sums of money on what are ‘non-essential items’. I could never be the one to tell a parent who couldn’t afford to feed their children “I’m sorry, there is no money to help you because we have to pay for some artwork you’ll never get to see.”
@Farkas László: This is probably the one thing I agree with Orbán on, the want of an affluent, cultured and socially responsible middle class; ‘a polgári kormány’. But of course, for Orbán and his befuddled thinking he has to pitch this as though it were antithetical to socialism, whilst peddling only extreme left policies – heard of gestalt Viki-lad? Then Jobbik take up his confused mantle and distill them into communism (redistribution of wealth, that the open market should not determine production or the measurement of value…) whilst claiming they are offering ‘new ways of thinking’ – and people like Bobvidékiklotyója then refer to Vona Gábor’s policies as ‘genius’ – loud guffaw.
All that aside, you are right: where are the philanthropic class? In the US and UK those that stole and cheated their way to enormous wealth (and those that honestly earnt it too e.g. William Hesketh Lever) did eventually develop a conscience and plough some money back in foundations and social causes.
Apart from a school to the ‘gifted’ what is Csányi Sándor (bankár) doing with his estimated 160 billion forints (as of 2008)? I’m sure he makes sure most of the money for that school is carefully over-subsidised and all his rich clients’ kids get first dibbs.
All of which reminded me of William Butler Yeats’ poem September 1913 [http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/September_1913_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php ] of the sense of disillusioned nationalism.
Hopefully this is a passing phase in our national life. Someday we will hve the kind of wealthy class that will fund museums and other cultural activities to a greater degree. The 1.3 million euros needed to acquire this collection would be well within the acquisition budgets of many world museums.
Oh Susan, of course we weren’t always serfs; it’s just that we endured that for almost a 1000 years, which is long enough if you ask me. Certainly long enough to influence our thinking and behaviour. Although serfdom was officially abolished in Hungary in 1848, the system of agricultural land based oligarchy continued for long after, along with a number of legal restrictions on people leaving the farms, all the way into 1945. After 1945, we became work slaves to a communist state.
It all came in with King Stephen and solidified by his successors. After all, it was the standard feudal model prevailing in Europe. It had the full endorsement of the church and priesthood, who throughout Europe desired to live off the proceeds of large estates, worked by unpaid people. The kings and popes would incite a military crusade/jihad against those enclaves of Europe that would not adopt this system, believing that to allow them to continue would be setting a bad example and give the other enslaved workers ideas. This happened in parts of Germany; it was not a pretty story.
I think part of the appeal of the Arpad flag is that it harkens back to a pre-feudal, pre-serf period.
Hello Vándorló,
Thanks for the comment and link.
Interesting that you mention Americas robber baron class. They did indeed amass millions, only to give away large chunks of money for various cultural projects. The names of Carnegie (the steel magnate who buit hundreds of public libraries) and Ford and Bill Gates come to mind. Americas long term stability allowed for this entrenched wealth to span generations (currency issued by the US govt in 1798 is still legal tender!!) People who inherit great wealth are highly likely to get involved with pet projects involving the arts and culture. This is less noticeable in underdeveloped or “third world” countries, where wealth is often acquired through corruption. The wealthy would rather hide their money in foreign banks than engage in conspicuous acts of philanthropy.
I notice your link did not copy as a hyperlink; it’s happened to me as well. I found out that my virus protection program would block the copy and pasting of hyperlinks. To get around that, I have to go to the bottom right of the screen, and right click on the anti-virus prgram icon and turn off the pause protection. This may be what is happening with you. If you do this, don’t forget to turn it back on again, or you have an unprotected computer.
@Farkas László: This should have been the link http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/September_1913_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php
Hope it works this time. The poem was really Yeats wish to also show his solidarity with the efforts of James Larkin and ‘The Dublin Lockout’ (1913). There is a great quote from one of Larkin’s speeches on his statue on O’Connell Street (Dublin): “The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.”
Larkin’s direct efforts to achieve better conditions for the average person were undermined by others (English Trade Unions mainly), though the effect of the lockout did ensure the monied class were instilled with a respectful fear of people power.
Hello Vándorló,
A nice literary conribution from you. We can learn from one another around here and be enriched.
The poem was rematkable; it’s feel and sentiment reminded me of our great poet Petőfi, whose works always leave me very affected and roused. Our Magyar aristocratic overclass accepted the works of Petőfi, feeling that when he said that “we won’t be slaves anymore”, he of course meant not being slaves to the Austrians. Many members of the peasantry no doubt gave that a broader interpretation.
Ireland and Hungary share some important historical commonalities. Almost a millenium of feudalism and Catholicism, along with hundreds of years of foreign(British) domination. The bulk of Ireland emancipated itself from Britain in 1919. Like post 1989 Hungary, they were economically stagnant. This phase lasted for almost 70 years, until they became an “economic tiger”. God I would hate for us to take that long. Peoples like the Irish and the Hungarians, traditionally agricultural societies overexposed to feudalism, have a developmental deficit to overcome, and overcoming it is not easy. It takes time.
Wow that is a great stuff. I hope I can add one of those in my collection. Im a gatherer of porcelain materials especially porcellain door knobs. I hope you can write more about this in the future. Im subscribing to your blog so I can stay updated. Thanks. – More power to you. – Bill