Kolcsey Ferenc.

This year, we celebrated the 225th anniversary of his birthday. Who is he? What was his role in Hungarian history? I chose him as a good portrait because he wrote our national anthem. He was also a poet, a politician, a language reformer and a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

His early life was full of tragedy. He lost one of his eyes, and his father died in his early years. When he was only six years old, he went to school in Debrecen, which is my hometown. He was only 11 when his mother died. In Debrecen, he found a home, though, as after he finished his primary studies he went on to college in the same city. He really loved reading Latin and Greek works. He was a true talent in his early years. Maybe that is why he liked to exchange letters with contemporary poets. He spoke French, German and modern Greek. After he graduated, he travelled to Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. He studied to be a lawyer, but he didn’t take his final exams. He turned his back on Budapest and headed to his hometown instead, where he could read Hungarian literature that he liked. Kolcsey didn’t like social life. He spent most of his time alone, reading.



In 1823, when he was only 33, he wrote The Hymn, which became the Hungarian national anthem. Erkel Ferenc a Hungarian composer, wrote the music for the poem. Since 1989, we celebrate that day — Jan. 22 — as Hungarian Day of Culture. The original manuscript can be found in the Orszagos Szechenyi Konyvtar, or the National Szechenyi Library.

In Debrecen, we have several things that preserve his name so that it will not be forgotten. The Kolcsey Center is a cultural place where concerts, cultural programs, balls, weddings and other kinds of ceremonies are held. There is also a school that was named after Ferenc Kolcsey. The Kolcsey Ferenc Reformatus Tanitokepzo Foiskola Gyakorlo Altalanos Iskola is a Calvinist primary school where future teachers can learn and practice how to teach perfectly. He enjoyed his friendship with the greatest poets and writers of his time, but he was lonely. He was active in both the political and the literary spheres, and he corresponded with a lot of important people. He wrote a lot of books, poems and articles. Reading the works of Ferenc Kolcsey, we can concentrate on the idea of being a patriot and on what it means to be Hungarian. Whenever The Hymn is played during a sporting event, and especially when the Hungarian national team wins, it means togetherness and solidarity. At primary school, we learned about his poems, his writings and, of course, The Hymn, which is always played during the opening and closing sessions of the school year, at proms and at every important school event. If you want to read more about him, please see the links below:



The Hymn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himnusz

In Korean: https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/헝가리의_국가



By Viktoria Mizsik
Korea.net Honorary Reporter
Photos: Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Korea