Projects

Supported projects include The Cultural Wheel in Medgyes, Transylvania (two images); the parish church of St. Francis of Assisi, Bakáts Square, Budapest; publication of The Architecture of Historic Hungary; the ELTE Herb Garden of Eötvös Loránd University; and a painting at the Sándor-Metternich Castle, Bajna, Hungary.

Hungaria Nostra has supported a broad number of projects in amounts from $5,000 to $15,000 since its founding in 1998. Here is a partial list of these projects.

• Contributions to restore the Bakats Church Tower, Budapest IX district, and the Library of Károlyi Castle, Fehérvárcsurgó
• Publication of Dora Wiebenson’s The Architectural History of Hungary (MIT Press)
• Margat, also known as Marqab, is a castle near Baniyas, Syria, which was a Crusader fortress and one of the major strongholds of the Knights Hospitaller, a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. Hungary’s King Andrew II visited and supported the site. In 2018, Hungaria Nostra funded excavations of the castle.
  

• Restoration of St. Michael’s Chapel of Pápoc.
• The rustic, indigenous, Transylvanian-inspired architectural style of Károly Kós (1883-1977) had a sustaining effect on European buildings during the first half of the twentieth century. Hungaria Nostra (HN) provided support to Mundus Academic Publishers, which organized an international symposium at the Budapest Zoo (containing buildings by Kós) on the life and work of this outstanding architect.
• The Károlyi Castle of Fehérvárcsurgó, built between 1844 and 1851 in neo-classical style, is in the highest category of Hungary’s listed heritage buildings. A grant from HN funded restoration of the marble floor of the main corridor of the north wing, along with the intricate parquets of representative rooms in the south wings. The only room in the castle with a painted ceiling was also restored.
• Over 400 years old, the fabled cemetery of Házsongárd is a venerable resting place and pantheon of Hungarian culture. With a grant from HN, the Házsongárd Foundation was able to buy back and restore 11 resting places and have them restored. The sixteenth-century Italian baroque painting, “Saintly Monk Giving Communion” by Pietro Bernardi, was restored, thanks to HN’s contribution to the Restoration Department of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The painting and its monumental frame formed part of the Italian baroque hall of the museum, where it will be on view again.

• HN provided support to the publicity department of Eötvös Loránd University’s Botanical Garden in Budapest. With its shady trees and exotic plants and hothouses, the garden provides an intimate escape for nature lovers in the heart of Budapest. The venue offers a wide range of well publicized activities to the general public.
• Restoration of the 1796 crucifix of District VIII in Budapest. The eighteenth-century carved limestone crucifix once marked the entrance to the old cemetery that covered this area. HN funds enabled a professional restoration, which stabilized the stone, restored articulation, and made it possible to move the crucifix to the side of the church, where it is an additional place of devotion for the faithful and an historic attraction for the public.

View a copy of our Hungaria Nostra brochure.

Restoration of the 19^th century painting of Móric Sándor, known as the “Devil’s Horseman”