1936 On the Continent

and woodcuts.
Petöfi and Jókai
    In the next street you will see a house built in the Hungarian style, which is devoted to the memory of Sándor Petöfi, the greatest Hungarian lyrical poet. I can well imagine how boring a house can prove to be for you, full of the relics, books, manuscripts and pictures of a poet of whom you never heard in your life and presumably never even read a single line by him. But you must believe me, you cannot enter its walls without emotion. The poet Petöfi was twenty-seven when he fell on the battlefield in our war of liberty against Austria. They never found his grave, and since 1849 the legend persisted for many years that the poet was still alive and became an outlaw. He was the poet of love and liberty. His words were as simple as those of the people, but they were flaming and full of music. To become the greatest poet of a nation at twenty-seven and to be killed in a war for liberty is a case without example in world literature.
    On the first floor of the same house there are the relics of Maurus Jokai. He was a contemporary of Petöfi, but by the grace of God he could enter as a very old man the twentieth century. He could just cast a glance through the door of our century, then he closed his magnificent blue eyes, as if he were frightened of what he saw there.Our greatest novelist, he left to us more than a hundred volumes. He got up at five every morning and wrote all the day. A most curious phenomenon in world literature. It has often happened that the writers of the West had gone to the East for material. Just think of Kipling. Jókai, on the other hand, was an Eastern writer with his fantasy. He was the only Eastern writer of the world who wrote Western tales.
    I am not at all sure you will be interested in the evolution of Hungarian agriculture. Should you be interested by any chance, there is the Agricultural Museum. It has a collection of forestry, and exhibits relating to fishing and shooting.
    As regards the Museum of Transport, I am devoted to it by strong ties of sentiment. Some twenty years ago I used to go there for months on end … in order to meet a girl of sixteen called Emma. She told her mother that she was interested in the past of the Hungarian Post Office and Telegraphy, because she wished to get a job at one of the post offices. I still don’t know what attractions the museum can offer to its visitors, but I warmly recommend it.
    In the end of the Stefánia Avenue there is the Municipal Museum encasing, like a huge box, the past history of Budapest: it is full of the artistic ornaments of some of our lovely old buildings, the master-works of the Guilds, their chests, flags, badges and other relics.
    The rest of the museums are not in the Town Park. Relating to Hungary, our largest and most important museum is the Nemzeti Museum (National Museum), which is in the centre of the town. From its steps in 1848, three years after it was built, Petöfi, the poet, recited his famous poem “Talpra Magyar!” which was the spark that started the war of liberty.
    Among the rooms of the museum the most interesting are those containing antiques and coins, also those devoted to palaeontology and minerals. The Roman relics are also fine. The rooms dealing with Hungarian history follow the whole course of our past. The Széchenyi Library, housed in the same building, is very rich in old Hungarian prints and manuscripts. Here you can find some of the best of King Mátyás’s library and the oldest Hungarian manuscripts.
    The György Ráth Museum in the Vilma királynö Road, originally a private collection, houses valuable pictures, statues, coins, china, tapestry and furniture.
    We are very proud of the Museum of Industrial Art in the Üllöiut, whose façade is decorated by the ceramics, in the Hungarian style, of the famous Zsolnay maiolica factory. This museum shows the historical evolution of pottery, and its collection of Holics faience is admirable.
    You remember when we discussed the picturesque uniform of the Hungarian general creating such a surprise in the Funeral Procession of the late King George? You asked me then, whether the people in the streets of Budapest still wear the same dresses. Unfortunately, they do not. But all the same the Hungarian gala uniform reflects all the splendour of the East. Well, in the same museum you can find examples of all dresses worn throughout the history of Hungary.
    You must not forget to visit the Nèprajzi Muzeum (Museum