Text: Juan David Latorre. Photos: Embassy of Hungary.
The Hungarian Embassy commemorated the 1956 Revolution and Struggle for Freedom on 21 October, led by Ambassador Katalin Tóth.
During the presentation of the event, which took place at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes San Fernando in Madrid, the Hungarian Ambassador said: “The 23rd of October is a really special and decisive day for every Hungarian. It is a symbol and a lesson: it is a symbol that our heroes inscribed their names forever in the book of the nation’s history and, at the same time, it is a lesson that we must defend the values dictated by our faith and that the unity of the nation can and must be established in order to achieve our noblest purposes”.
“On this day, Ambassador Katalin Tóth continued, we remember that in 1956 the Hungarian people reiterated their firm belief that, although we have been forced to fight many times throughout history, we would never, under any circumstances, give up our freedom. The Hungarian people said NO to oppression, NO to dictatorship, NO to others imposing how we should live in our own country”.
During the ceremony, the Gold Cross of Merit awards were presented to Evelio Acevedo and Guillermo Solana, Managing Director and Artistic Director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, respectively.
Finally, a jazz concert was given by the Béla Bártok Conservatory, which performed jazz arrangements of the Hungarian composer’s collection of folk songs and songs from the Carpathian Basin.
The reception was attended by a large number of friends of Hungary and the ambassadors of Luxembourg, Cyprus, Lithuania, Greece, Slovenia and Latvia.
