The oeuvre of Sándor Makkai, presented in a travelling exhibition
The Reformed Church in Buda was the setting for the opening of the exhibition about the oeuvre of Sándor Makkai on the 4th of December. According to plans, the exhibition will travel throughout Transylvania too, in order to promote the religious, literary and public work of the Hungarian Bishop and writer from Transylvania, within and beyond the borders of Hungary.
The exhibition was opened following a religious ceremony on Sunday by DAHR’s MEP Csaba Sógor and Lilla Makkai, granddaughter of Sándor Makkai.
“Sándor Makkai was a prominent figure of Transylvanian public life as a bishop, writer and politician. His work bares relevance even today, so it is very important that his work will not be forgotten” – said the Hungarian politician from Transylvania, who considers it a great honor that he can support the exhibition in the name of the European People’s Party.
Csaba Sógor reminded about Sándor Makkai’s important thought that proves the relevance of his ideas: “If a nation cannot identify its own particular strengths and use them for the benefit of human culture, it will deviate from the path of global history and surely parish” – quoted the MEP the words of the essay by Makkai entitled Our own revision that speaks against prejudice, nationalist bigotry, as well as contradictory and introvert ideas.
- As a politician, Sándor Makkai believed that the path of peaceful reconciliation is more efficient than that of the revolution. He also said that the added value of the minority status is the extra layer of knowledge. If I were to define Makkai’s heritage, I would say that we have to use this added value in the united Europe to our benefit, otherwise we will always wear the minoritarian tag – said the Hungarian MEP from Transylvania, who closed his speech with the words of Sándor Reményik, saying that we need to move from the “It is not possible” attitude toward s the “it is possible because it has to be done” attitude.
The material of the exhibition was presented to the attendance by Lilla Makkai. The exhibit ion aims to present the 20th century history of Transylvania with all its tragedies and tensions through the work of Sándor Makkai.
