János Can Togay was named to head the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin, Péter Kovács was appointed to head the Hungarian Academy in Rome and István Zimonyi was mandated to oversee Hungary's cultural institute in Cairo.
Seven applications were received for the post in Rome and six for the one in Cairo. Fifteen applicants applied for the post in Berlin, where Hungary will inaugurate a new building for the institute in November. The new structure is Hungary's biggest foreign investment since the fall of communism.
Speaking about the new building, Hiller said the Collegium Hungaricum would be capable of presenting not only traditional Hungarian culture, but Hungary's new cultural face as well.
Hiller said Can Togay, the institute's new director, would work together with the Collegium Hungaricum's current director for one and half months starting on November 1.
"I don't want a mechanical transfer (of responsibilities)," Hiller said, adding that the appointment of the new director of the National Theatre might also take place in such a fashion.
Speaking about the new appointments, Hiller said Péter Kovács had stressed in his application to head the Hungarian Academy in Rome the institute's scholarship programme for Hungarians. He said the task of Zimonyi would be to strengthen the ties between the Gulf States and Hungary.
"We have far more sources of gain in the Arab world than we are using," Hiller said, noting that the ministry wishes to expand Hungary's presence in the region by setting up a network of cultural attachés. The network's first member is likely to be set up in the United Arab Emirates, by 2009 at the latest, he added.
THE APPOINTEES
János Can Togay was born in 1955. He graduated with degrees in German, English and Literature from Budapest's Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 1978, and he graduated with a degree in film directing from the capital's Theatre and Film Arts College in 1984. Since 1990, he has worked as a screenplay writer as well as in several theatre productions. In the early 90s, Can Togay participated in demonstrations organised by the Alliance of Young Film Directors. In 2000, he was awarded the Balázs Béla prize.
Péter Kovács was born in 1957. He graduated with degrees in archival sciences and history from ELTE in 1983. Between 1983 and 1986 he was a scholarship student of the Hungarian Academy of Science's (MTA) Scientific Assessment Committee. Kovács was a teaching assistant at ELTE's Faculty of Arts and Sciences between 1986 and 1988 and a member of the faculty of the Historical Studies Institute until 1993. He was scientific secretary at the Hungarian Academy in Rome between 1993 and 1996, after which he took a post as senior research fellow with the Historical Studies Institute. Between 2003 and 2007, Kovács was scientific deputy-director at the Hungarian Academy in Rome.
István Zimonyi was born in 1956. He graduated with degrees in history, English and area studies with a concentration on Mongolia. He also studied languages in the Arab department. Zimonyi served as a member of the Mongolian Studies faculty of the József Attila University (JATE) in Szeged. Since 1993, he has been department head at JATE's Middle Ages History faculty. He has published 52 studies and is the editor of 29 foreign language studies. Zimonyi is also the editor of the Hungarian Ancient History Library.
