Links to watch and listen

Mihály Kolodko is well-known all around Europe for his miniature, guerilla statues.

Each work has a meaning or a story behind it. He places them all over Budapest to commemorate important historical monuments or figures, and to entertain the public.

He has more than 40 now in Budapest alone and locals like to go around and find them, turning it into a treasure hunt game. It’s a great way of alternative sightseeing and learning more about Hungarian culture and history! Check out the stories about each and every work on Instagram in the Story Highlights, and click on the map to get started with the challenge!

A life changing moment for all the people who attended, Queen’s concert in Budapest, also known as the Hungarian Rhapsody, is one of the band’s most well known concert films. Watch this video of some behind-the-scenes footage and also the iconic moment when Freddie sings one of our folk songs, called Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt.

The Goulash Communism years also produced some of the best bands and most iconic songs of Hungarian popular music. Listen to this playlist to experience this era from a totally different perspective!

The original Gloomy Sunday, written in 1932 by Rezső Seress, was known as the Hungarian Suicide Song and blamed for more suicides than any other song in history. Read the complete article here!

Billie Holiday’s version

Hungarian is a Uralic language which naturally shares a lot of linguistic connections with other Uralic languages, making its position in Central Europe very unique and different from its neighbouring countries. Hungarian people originate from the Ural region in present-day Russia and migrated to the current location in Central Europe after conquering the Carpathian Basin. It is believed that prior to settling in Central Europe, Hungarians had contacts with Iranian (Scythians and Sarmatians) or Turkic nomads which influenced their language as a result. Ever wondered how close Hungarian is to Estonian and Turkish? Click the links to find out!

Check out this amazing rare colorized footage of Budapest before all the destruction of World War II.