The Fiumei Road Cemetery is a national memorial site, not only for those buried there but also for the entire nation: for all the former compatriots, for those living today and for future generations. At the same time, for historical or personal reasons, many of Hungary's former compatriots do not have a burial place in the country. Therefore, the National Heritage Institute (NÖRI) wants to set up a symbolic place of remembrance in the Fiumei Road Cemetery, which serves as a memorial site for all our former compatriots who do not have a resting place within the country's borders, either because their graves are located in the territory of other countries, or because the traumatic events of the 20th century did not allow them to be buried anywhere - reads the NÖRI press release sent to Pestbuda.

The Fiumei Road Cemetery (Photo: National Heritage Institute)

According to the information, under "beyond the borders", NÖRI does not only mean the countries neighbouring the motherland, in the Carpathian Basin, but also all foreign locations where our former compatriots of Hungarian origin are buried, or where they once met a natural or violent death.

By creating the memorial, the goal is not to have a symbolic burial place, but a place of grace, NÖRI announced (Photo: Balázs Both/pestbuda.hu)

They remind everyone that the genre of the memorial site in the cemetery is not without precedent. In plot 30/2 of the Fiumei Road Cemetery, there was a symbolic grave monument from 1931 commemorating the Hungarians who died across the border and were buried there. This monument, which primarily refers to and commemorates the Treaty of Trianon, was demolished in the meantime, and graves have since been installed in its original place. The National Heritage Institute does not seek to reconstruct this monument, but rather, going beyond its ideological framework, wants to extend the memory to all our former compatriots who, for historical or personal reasons, cannot have their final resting place within Hungary, they wrote in the announcement.

They also added that the purpose of creating the memorial is not to create a symbolic grave, but a place of grace. The memorial site will commemorate all those people who are buried outside Hungary's present-day borders, who left the country as a result of traumatic historical events, personal tragedies, or for other reasons, whether against their own will or just for that reason.

"The memorial site created as a result of the tender can even serve as a venue for national-level events, but its primary purpose is to provide a worthy space for personal remembrance. That is why we are not primarily looking for a grave monument design, but rather, we await the proposals of the applicants for the formulation of individual and community remembrance worthy of the Fiumei Road Cemetery. It is important that, in addition to the expression of community belonging, the memorial site also strives for an architectural and artistic representation of the atmosphere that ensures individuality," emphasised Gábor Móczár, Director General of NÖRI, in connection with the call for tenders.

Tomb of János Arany in the Fiumei Road Graveyard (Photo: Balázs Both/pestbuda.hu)

They also inform everyone that the memorial site now being realised will be located in plot 29/3 of the cemetery. The National Heritage Institute does not wish to define the formal, symbolic, narrative or material use program of the memorial site, it gives the applicants a completely free hand to achieve ever more complete artistic freedom.

According to the announcement, the National Heritage Institute is primarily looking for applications from architecture students and related professions (e.g. landscape architecture students). Prize-winning entries will be awarded a total of 6 million HUF. The tenders will be decided by a 10-member professional Jury - significant representatives of the Hungarian architectural profession and allied arts. Details of the application can be found on the website of the National Heritage Institute.

Source: National Heritage Institute

Cover photo: The National Heritage Institute has issued a tender for the design of a memorial site for Hungarians who died beyond the borders (Photo: Balázs Both/pestbuda.hu)