A series of events to mark the 550th anniversary of the coronation of King Matthias will begin on  the 22nd of January 2008 and finish exactly one year later. The events will include cultural, gastronomic and scientific themes amongst many others. The aim of Renaissance Year 2008 is bring people closer to values from the Renaissance period that are on the verge of being forgotten. The organisers do not disguise their intention to draw parallels between the artistic, cultural, social and economic rebirth of the renaissance period and modern times. After all, our world is going through changes just as important as those experienced in the time of King Matthias and there is a need for the values that which made the Renaissance a success.

Respect for the historic past and its myths and the preservation and conscious, but selected, use of venerable inventions from the past were characteristic of Egyptian culture in the age of the pharaohs. Thus this kind of ‘renaissance’ attitude is deeply rooted in the 3000 year old history of the Egyptian state.

The fourth phase of the digital playground, the exhibition under the title “Click 4.0 – Health” introduces the most important issues of health education and a healthy lifestyle in fourteen thematic units.

The exhibition offers insights into the diversity of cultures and also presents the variety of obstacles standing in our way to encounter the Other.

The exhibition under the title “Pigeon-hearted Tin Lizzie ? The Hundred Year Old T-Model” offers a dozen of old cars produced by Ford in the Museum of Transportation. Visitors are introduced into the production and history of the T-Model in the centenary exhibition by photographies and explanatory texts.

The National Geographic Society – together with IBM, Spencer Wells and the Waitt Foundation – launched the Genographic Project 5 years ago in order provide a genetic mapping out of human migration. The second station in the international tour of the exhibition is Budapest, the House of the Future Exhibition.

Contemporary Hungarian Pieces of Art from the Iroquoian Collection 1998-2008 in the Hungarian National Gallery

The exhibition uses the beautiful 18th and 19th century artefacts of the Museum of Ethnography to show the way the popular renaissance motifs – dragons, unicorns, jumping deer and colourful flowers – reached everyday culture.

The exhibition of contemporary Hungarian applied arts focuses mainly on present day applied arts, presenting historical examples as parallels. The exhibition has an entirely new approach in the presentation of contemporary and 20th century Hungarian applied arts. Instead of a historical or chronological survey, it traces parallels in attitudes and manifestations.

The Hungarian Heritage House is a national institute founded for cultivating and promoting the folk tradition of the Carpathian-basin. Its ensemble, the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble presents all the genres related to the folk tradition on the stage, from the historical music through the authentic folk music and folk dance to the world music and dance show based on the traditional elements. The institute organises and hosts dance performances, concerts, dancehouses and playing houses, popularize the traditional folk art heritage. Folk music and folk dance records are collected, elaborated and opened up in its archive.

Hungarian Heritage House 
Address: 1011 Budapest, Corvin tér 8.
www.hagyomanyokhaza.hu