Elemér Boreczky, Phd, Hungary Course Description CENTRAL
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Elemér Boreczky, PhD, Hungary Course description CENTRAL EUROPE AND THE ARCHEOLOGY OF CULTURE What do cultural monuments tell us about reclaiming the lost inheritance of European culture in the” less known” lands of the former Kingdom of Hungary, now integrated into the nation states of Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Austria? In an attempt to give a tentative answer to this question, the course reveals various layers of culture behind cultural monuments. It uses the frame of reference of cultural studies, especially that of regional studies, which have evolved as an independent field the former. Regional studies have also contributed to the emergence of recent interest in re-interpreting travelogues that have played a role in “re-inventing Eastern-Europe” by Western travelers 300 years after “Ungaria,” “Polonia,” Grecia,” and “Germania” had been demarcated as four of the nine political entities on the map of Europe made by Pope Pius II, the first person to think of the continent as a political-cultural entity by that name. However, by the time of the American and French Revolution, “Ungaria,” “Polonia,” and “Grecia” had been virtually erased from the map, and re-emerged as small nation states in the 19th century. Students have the opportunity to learn, and make use of, the skill of “reading the landscape” by identifying a cultural scene within a broader cultural field and find meaning in the various artifacts that capture the attention of the traveler, the reader of literature, the art movie fan, or the music lover, let alone politicians and business people with vested interests in the region. Likewise, ‘archeology of culture,’ applied to the analysis of the lived experience behind the visible signs as an intellectual tool, can help to reveal different layers of meaning behind the surface and understand the common inheritance and the complexity of Hungarian, as well as Slovak, Romanian, Serbian, Croat, Austrian, Slovene, Romany or even Polish and German culture. Culture is thus understood as the cultivation of customs and habits that are essential for the physical and mental well-being of a group of people. The cultivation of such habits, which has also led to the creation of representative cultural artifacts, have left their marks on the collective memory of various groups of people, and has remained effective in their contemporary way of life and their political orientation, too. The course takes account of the fact that in an integrated European Union, the presidency of which will be held by Hungary from January to June, 2011, when the course is being delivered, regions might regain, or redevelop their identity they have lost as a result of the political necessity of the creation of nation states and the demarcation of their borders through a series of international treaties. Belonging to the traditional geographical entity of the Kingdom of Hungary, itself engulfed at different periods of history by the Habsburg or the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and acting as a secondary empire in the brief period of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire between 1867 and 1918, these regions have all had their “Golden Age” at various times in history. The course consists of a series of classes, each presenting a scene, a piece of architecture, literature or music that has been preserved in the memory of the “World” at large, its outstanding features marked by UNESCO World Heritage, or its native writers or scientists rewarded by Nobel Prize. Students explore the multidimensional layers of meaning, overt and hidden discourses, behind such phenomena by means of cultural analysis. They contribute to each class by presentations on particular topics related to the main theme of the class. Introduction: an ‘Atlas’ of Central Eastern Europe Classes 2-3 Transdanubia and Northern Hungary The region remained under the rule of Habsburg kings, also acting as German Emperors, even when the rest of Hungary was either occupied by Ottoman Turks, or controlled by the Principality of Transylvania. Transdanubia became prosperous because of its wheat production, which made Hungary one of the granaries of Europe in the late 18th and early 19th century, creating the material foundations for the patriotic reforming and modernizing policies of Hungarian aristocrats. Its northernmost town, Győr, has been integrated into the recently emerging economic triangle of Vienna, Bratislava, and Győr, whereas the region around Lake Balaton and Hévíz, the biggest lake of Central Europe and the biggest thermal water lake of Europe, with is spas and vineyards, its uniquely “cultured” landscape, has invited holiday makers and property owners from Austria and Germany, making the region prosper again. The two classes on this region start from the touristy sight of the baroque summer palace, the replica of Versailles, of the Eszterházy family at Fertőd, where Joseph Haydn spent most of his active life, and the palace of the Festetics family at Keszthely, which also gave home to Georgikon, an 18th century agricultural school, respectively. Students look into the past and behind the walls of these palaces to explore the life and culture of their owners, and understand their lasting cultural impact. They show how enlightened Hungarian aristocrats loyal to the Habsburg kings, were integrated into the high imperial culture of Vienna, as well as into Hungarian culture. Edmund Spencer, Sketches of Germany and the Germans; With a Glance At Poland, Hungary in 1834, 1835 and 1836. 2003 reprint. (Extracts.) Richard Bright, Travels from Vienna Through Lower Hungary: With Some Remarks on the State of Vienna during the Congress in the Year 1814, Edinburgh, 1818. (Extracts.) Class 4 The Spisšký region (Szepesség in Hungarian, Zips in German) This was a prosperous region of Saxon towns in the Kingdom of Hungary, when Hungary, ‘Ungaria,’ was still considered to be one of the nine major political-cultural entities of Europe. Many of these towns and villages were pawed to the King of Poland by King and Emperor Sigismund in 1412, but remained virtually self-governing until the 18th century. Situated between the gold, silver and copper mines that supplied Europe with half of its silver and gold in the late middle ages, and along the route of the wine trade from Hungary to Northern Europe, they constituted an integrated cultural entity with Cracow in Poland, until they were repossessed by the Habsburgs on behalf of the Kingdom of Hungary, when Poland was virtually deleted from the map of Europe, not unlike Hungary before. The population of the region, though its culture was dominated by the Germans, consisted also of Slovaks, Gurals, Hungarians, Jews and Gypsies. The class on the region focuses on St Jacob’s Church in the town of Levoče (Lőcse in Hungarian, or Leutschau in German), which is part of the World Heritage. It preserves the spirit of a culture that has ceased to exist. The class starts with the presentation of the impressive wooden altars of Master Pavol(?), Pál(?), or, most probably, Paul (?), one of the highest of its kind in the world. In the church the members of the community merged with the characters of the Gospel stories, carved to their image, in a sacred space and time. From the doorway of the church students take a virtual tour of the main square of the town and the region and discover how time and space have changed and broken the spell. The class allows students to explore and discuss how ethnic variety has contributed to the rich heritage, as well as to the plight of some of the inhabitants, of the region in history in various political and cultural climates. http://www.chramsvjakuba.sk Dr Thomas Reiner, Carpathian German History, http: carpathiangerman.com Classes 5-7 Transylvania Transylvania lies in the center of the 21st century Republic of Romania, yet it preserves much of what has remained of the historical heritage of Hungary in terms of landscape, customs and architecture. In Transylvania, Hungarians, Hungarian speaking Székelys and Saxons, the three nations, enjoyed privileges and a considerable degree of self-government even after the larger part of Hungary was occupied by Ottoman Turks in 1541. It prospered as a semi-independent vassal state of the Ottoman Empire with considerable leeway for its own policies in the 16th- 17th centuries, at times, being a major player in European religious wars on the Protestant side. When it was ‘liberated’ by an all-European army led by Catholic Austrians, it fell under Habsburg government, and its unprivileged Romanian population grew excessively. By the time it was reunited with Hungary in the war of independence of 1848-49 fought by Hungarians against the Habsburg Germans, and politically in 1867, after a compromise with the Habsburg Empire, which changed its name into Austrian-Hungarian Empire, Romanians were the majority of the population. Transylvania became a part of the Kingdom of Romania in 1920. It still has the largest national and ethnic minority of Hungarians in the European Union, but its Saxon population virtually all left Romania before and immediately after 1989. The first class places the fortified church of Székelyderzs at the focus. The old church is part of the World Heritage. It is the center of Unitarianism in the region. The village around the church has preserved its archaic way of life documented by the photo-reports of English photographer, Paul Glendell. Built by Saxons, reoccupied by Catholic Székelys and later becoming a Unitarian church of Hungarians, this cultural monument has preserved the memory of major events in the history of Transylvania and their “nations”. As a cultural field that has captured time and refuses to change, it offers the opportunity to analyze spiritual forces that have played a role in shaping and preserving the people and the landscape.