Once Upon a Time in Hungary [antikvár]

Although the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and withit the passing of the historical Kingdom of Hungary, was a painful and bloodyprocess, this period was significant. There was a shift towards contemporarymodern Europe, a spread of a middle class way of life and its attributes, anda reassuring, though at times somewhat dull, political stability, success andvulnerability. At the turn of the century various social and political conflictswere all simultaneously present in Hungary.This was a calm yet vital world, full of narrow-minded self- and massdeception combined with desire to reveal the prophetic truth.There has never been a unanimous interpretation of this period. It hasbeen regarded as both an example of the oppression of the lower classes andnationalities and as the most successful model of Central European integra-tion. Some view it as a form of feudal atavism, while others see it as the eraof the emergence of the middle class. It is thought of with both nostalgia andhatred. On the one hand it is condemned as a period of limited nationalautonomy, and on the other, it is considered by many as an era in whichthe rage of nationalism, so ungovernable in the 20th century, was checked.Added to which, there is naturally, the post-modern challenge whichsuggests that this is all merely a simple narrative.A complete and infallible interpretation is well nigh impossible. Never-theless, in an effort to provide a proper analysis, we will attempt to outlinethe real events.As we are now given the unique opportunity of seeing the past throughthe eyes of those who lived through it, we are able to present it with greaterauthenticity. This will be conjured up by photographs taken by known oranonymous photographers of various people, both known and unknown, ofeveryday life and great celebrations, of buildings long since gone and of land-scapes long since transformed.The period presented covers the years from the 1880s to the early 1910s,which, in a broad sense, is the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20thcentury. While the place is a Hungary that no longer exists.