Budapest, 1978. August 20th is Hungary's National Day. It is usually marked with a large and specatular firework display in Budapest attended by huge crowds. Except last year when the display was cancelled due to storms being forecast to hit the capital. The storms missed Budapest, but that didn't stop the the head of National Meteorological Service from being fired. Typical of life in Orbánistan.

Source: Fortepan [15380] / MHSZ

#fortepan #Budapest #fireworks #SaintStephen #meteorology

Csömör, 1948. Many of the photos from Fortepan are of pretty average quality. That is part of the strength of the site: it is very much an unfiltered look at Hungarian society throughout the 20th century. Like this photo, taken at a Lutheran church in the village of Csömör on the outskirts of Budapest. Even though it is out of focus, it nevertheless creates a powerful image of women at worship.

Source: Fortepan [187495] / Fortepan/Album08

#fortepan #Hungary #Csömör #church #worship #Lutheran

Eger, 1967. I love the juxtaposition of the minaret, the church behind it, and the priest. Hungary was ruled by the Ottman Empire for over a 150 years in the 16th and 17th centuries. After the Turks were expelled, came the Austrians and a resurgent catholicism.

(I climbed up that minaret in 1997 before my claustrophia got too bad. The steps up are very narrow and very windy. Couldn't do it now!)

Source: Fortepan [177735] / Bojár Sándor

#fortepan #Eger #Hungary #minaret #priest #church

Hungary, 1970. I like to think that this man is quietly resting, in some small railway station somewhere in rural Hungary, after a hard's day work. We will of course never know his story but we can use our imagination to create one. I think that is one of the main attractions of Fortepan: the stories you can make up in your head - and heart - about its many photos.

Source: Fortepan [187724] / Szalay Béla

#fortepan #Hungary #man #dozing #bench #imagining

Hungary, 1943. Hungarian society has been, and remains, generally pretty conservative. Here we see representatives of that conservatism, especially of this era: the peasantry, the military, and the church.

Source: Fortepan [204301] / Somlói Miklós dr.

#fortepan #Hungary #priest #solider #peasant

Budapest, 1935. A photo of two men living two very different lives.

Source: Fortepan [3461] / Homoródy Károly

#fortepan #Budapest #men #worker

Budapest, 1990. Members of a Jewish community centre in Budapest enjoy some time together. If you look very closely at the inside of the left arm of the pianist you will see a small tattoo. These were only given to prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp, and only to those selected to work, rather than those murdered in the gas chambers. She survived.

Source: Fortepan [76265] / Erdei Katalin

#fortepan #Hungary #Budapest #JewishLife #PianoPlaying #Holocaust #Auschwitz #Survivor

Hungary, 1972. A wonderfully atmospheric photo of a cashier in a small pub or liquor store, somewhere in Hungary. Could be a scene from a Béla Tarr movie.

Source: Fortepan / Urbán Tamás

#fortepan #Hungary #cashier #blackandwhite #BelaTarr

Zalaegerszeg, 1916. A wonderful, high quality photo of what would seem to be a well-do family in this small town in western Hungary. But it is the last days of the Astro-Hungarian Empire and a whole lotta change is about to descend upon them.

I often wonder if it might be the same for us these days - all smiles before the deluge.

Source: Fortepan / Göcseji Museum / Morandini-Schlemmer estate

#fortepan #Hungary #Zalaegerszeg

Budapest, 1957. On one of our visits to Budapest, we stayed in an apartment on the Belgrade Embankment very, very close to where this photo was taken. The apartment was on the 4th floor and had large, 12 foot high rooms, that spoke of a by-gone era. Our bedroom had a balcony just like this one, and every morning I would stand and take in the vista. Talk about a room with a view! It was truly magic.

Source: Fortepan / Bauer Sándor

#fortepan #Budapest #Hungary #Danube #balcony

Budapest, 1946. A wedding party at the Kazinczy Street orthodox Jewish Center. Although not necessarily visible in this photo, I feel an immense sadness must have prevailed at this wedding. Some 564,000 Jewish Hungarians were murdered between 1941 and 1945. Every single person in this photos would have lost family and friends and their absence from this wedding, must have been a source of great sorrow.

Source: Fortepan / Hámori Gyula

#fortepan #Budapest #Hungary #Holocaust #JewishLife #wedding

Budapest, 1972. A policeman checks the ID of some patrons at a local café. Uniformed police like this one weren't regarded as being among the best and the brightest in Hungary. "Why do Police need pocket calculators?", the old joke went. "So they can count how many pockets they have." Different story for the security services though.

Source: Fortepan / Magyar Rendőr

#fortepan #Hungary #Budapest #police #joke

Szigliget, 1969. Thursday is the end of my work week. Some Thursdays I feel like this old lady as she makes her way home. Just a few more weary steps and then I'm done.

The house on the left is a former writers' house used during the Kádár regime. All the main writers and poets spent time writing there, including my favourite, Magda Szabó (The Door, Abigail, Katalin Street, etc.).

Source: Fortepan / Faragó László

#fortepan #Hungary #Szigliget #MagdaSzabó #writers #village

Hungary, 1976. Nothing nicer than reading the morning newspaper on a warm day. It's weird though how the over-the-top-of-the-glasses look. always seems to appear like an admonishment of some sort!

Source: Fortepan / Győri Zoltán

#fortepan #Hungary #newspaper #reading

Hungary, 1969. It's Monday morning and off to work we go. These workers are using Ascota 170/55, accounting machines. Not quite like the computer screens I will be soon be looking at!

Source: Fortepan / FŐFOTÓ

#fortepan #Hungary #work #MondayMorning #Ascota #office

Hungary, 1966. That reminds me, I must my Lotto tonight.

Source: Fortepan / Balla Demeter / Zsolt Hegyi's donation

#fortepan #Hungary #lotto

Vác, 1960. Vác is a small town located on the banks of the Danube some 30 kilometres north of Budapest, and was our home for a year or two. Indeed we lived in one of the street-facing apartments on the first floor of the building you can see on the right in this photo. I would often stand at the window on the far left contentedly looking out on the square below, and observe the ebb and flow of life below. Happy days.

Source: Fortepan / Bojár Sándor

#fortepan #Hungary #Vác #square #buses

Bátonyterenye, 1966. A miner after the end of another shift. Pretty sure that man deserved a beer.

Source: Fortepan / Bojár Sándor

#fortepan #Hungary #miner #Bátonyterenye #worker

Balmazújváros, 1977. These four men, from a small town in eastern Hungary, would have seen a great deal of history in their time: two world wars, the dismemberment of their country in 1921, dictatorships, revolutions - the lot.

Source: Fortepan / Urbán Tamás

#fortepan #Hungary #Balmazújváros #photo #oldmen

London, 1953. The day that is forever etched into the memories of Hungarians. The national football team (the Golden Team) are about the play England at Wembley and beat them 6-3, the first time Engalnd had lost on home soil. There are pubs in Hungary today simply called 6-3. The names of players live on as legends: Puskás, Grosics, Lóránt, Hidegkúti, Buzánszky, Lantos, Zakariás, Czibor, Bozsik, Budai, Kocsis.

Source: Fortepan / Kovács József

#fortepan #Hungary #Wembley #football #GoldenTeam