The Hungarian National Assembly [antikvár]

DEAR READERS AND VISITORS,Called in the Hungárián language as the "house of the coun-try" and sometimes poetically referred to as the "house of the homeland," Parliament Building has been home to the nation's legislature and to popular representation for over a hundred years. Symbolically speaking, it has since become home to all Hungar-ians living anywhere in the world. The edifice looks young for its age even though it witnessed the entire tempestuous twentieth century; saw elating and depressing episodes in Hungárián histo-ry, and even got damaged along the way.The idea to create Parliament Building came during aperiod of ascetit in the life and progress of the nation. When former Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy proposed to erect a permanent building for legislature, the example he had in mind was the Houses of Parliament in London. However, when Imre Steindl submitted a design in neo-Gothic style, somé of the decision-makers dismissed it as "Germán." Eventually, Andrássy's determined support con-vinced the detractors. A magnificent accomplishment and the ex-pression of the dynamism and self-confidence Hungarians had at the time, Parliament Building was the result of the collective ef-fort of an eminent architect and numerous gifted artists. The new edifice manifested the national pride and identity of the Hungárián legislature, which during previous centuries was forced to con-vene on various locations. "Even ifits appearance and structure be modest, it should certainly be worthy of the dignity of a free, constitution-al nation," a parliamentary document of old reads.It was from a balcony of Parliament Building that on 23 Octo-ber 1989 the Republic of Hungary was proclaimed. Since spring 1990 the edifice has been housing the freely elected National Assembly. Today our aim cannot be any different from what it was in the past: every Hungárián Citizen should regard the "house of the homeland" his own home. May Parliament Building and the work done there express the dignity of a free nation and its citizens.Since Hungary's transition to multi-party democracy, its freely elected National Assembly has played host to numerous high-profile international conferences. Noted among them is the Con-ference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments in 2005. In compliance with the reform of inter-parliamentary cooperation, as adopted in The Hague in 2004, the Hungárián National Assembly is both hosting the Speakers' Conference and has been acting as coordinator among the national Parliaments concerned. A new Member State of the European Union as Hungary is, we have had the priviiege to be among the initiators of a new and more inten-sive phase of inter-parliamentary cooperation. I cherish the hope that we could appropriately accomplish that responsible and re-warding assignment.Commending to our readers and visitors this brief description of the history and present of Hungary's Parliament Building, I wish that our guests should feel like home in this "house of the country."^Budapest, April 2005J^/Cc^AaaO (oi! HiVjlvh}