(MTI) - The elegant, five-story, building of over 3,000 sqm will be more than just a house; it will be a home to German-Hungarian relations, Hiller said at the informal opening event, which preceded the official inauguration ceremony to be held later in the day.
The new building was erected at 12 Dorotheenstrasse, to replace the Herz Palace, which used to house the institute from its foundation in 1926 to 1945, when the building was destroyed. The building will accommodate exhibition and multi-purpose rooms suitable also for concerts, a main grand hall, a cinema, a library, lecture rooms, a cafeteria and restaurant, as well as flats on the fifth floor for scholars.
Following WWII, Collegium Hungaricum was reopened in 1973 at a temporary facility in East Berlin. Its original site was restituted to the Republic of Hungary in 1997.
The new building was erected at 12 Dorotheenstrasse, to replace the Herz Palace, which used to house the institute from its foundation in 1926 to 1945, when the building was destroyed. The building will accommodate exhibition and multi-purpose rooms suitable also for concerts, a main grand hall, a cinema, a library, lecture rooms, a cafeteria and restaurant, as well as flats on the fifth floor for scholars.
Following WWII, Collegium Hungaricum was reopened in 1973 at a temporary facility in East Berlin. Its original site was restituted to the Republic of Hungary in 1997.
Culture minister calls Hungarian season in Germany a success
Hungary's cultural season in Germany, which lasted for one and a half years and closed with the inauguration of a new cultural institute in Berlin, was a success, Minister of Culture and Education Istvan Hiller told MTI on Friday.
The minister said the series of cultural events held in five provinces and Berlin under the title Ungarischer Akzent (Hungarian Accent) attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Hiller noted that 2007 was the first year for Hungary to organise two cultural seasons. The other season - in China - is still under way and will end in Hong Kong next spring.
In 2008, however, Hungary will not hold any cultural season so as to concentrate on preparations for organising unprecedented and highly ambitious project: a year-long cultural season in New York and Washington, he said.
For the time being, Hungary operates 19 cultural institutes abroad: 16 in Europe and three overseas. The government does not intend to set up further ones; instead it has decided to establish a network of cultural attaches.
The minister said the series of cultural events held in five provinces and Berlin under the title Ungarischer Akzent (Hungarian Accent) attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Hiller noted that 2007 was the first year for Hungary to organise two cultural seasons. The other season - in China - is still under way and will end in Hong Kong next spring.
In 2008, however, Hungary will not hold any cultural season so as to concentrate on preparations for organising unprecedented and highly ambitious project: a year-long cultural season in New York and Washington, he said.
For the time being, Hungary operates 19 cultural institutes abroad: 16 in Europe and three overseas. The government does not intend to set up further ones; instead it has decided to establish a network of cultural attaches.
--Felirat a doboz alatt--
