The City Tour of Budapest: Mattias Church

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, art, Churches, Hungary, photography, Thoughts o n Travel

 

The entire area around the Danube River near the Chain Bridge, which was also near our hotel, has been declared a World Heritage site. This made it very convenient.  The first half day, our entire group went on bus excursion of the area. We got off a few times to explore led by our fearless leaders. Our leader led a long line of tourist through the streets to the famous and spectacularly beautiful Mattias Church.

Although I enjoyed the walk immensely, I did have one complaint. It is the same complaint I have about every European city. That complaints centres around the unfortunate fact that each magnificent structure is located in the middle of a city. Other buildings encroach on territory which ideally would allow tourists, and others, to get a good look at the buildings.  It is very difficult to do that with most of the fantastic sites, even World Heritage Sites.  Every city permits commercial interests to encroach on this space that I would call sacred space. Sacred space for the appreciation of great art. That is what great architecture deserves but never gets. None of us gets to properly appreciate the art. Great art really deserves great space to be seen properly.

Using space like this would not be wasted space as some assert. It is necessary space that should be respected, and not encroached upon.  Secondly, hordes of tourists should not be allowed to mar this sacred space either. Instead, in every city, and Budapest was no exception, as was every city we visited, the great buildings were pinched in by other structures and hordes of disrespectful tourists, like us. Great art should be allowed to breathe and show us its glories. Usually, that is not allowed. The art is pinched in by pinched minds.

All of this is particularly annoying to someone like me who wants to photograph them. It is extremely difficult, and often, impossible. The AI “remove” feature on  photographic programs like Lightroom helps a lot. I did find out later when I had a chance to look at my photographs that at least this feature  helped to eliminate parts of other buildings in some cases, and people too. But space would be much better. On the above photograph I left some people in the photo to give a sense of scale. I wish cities could find a way to expand the sacred space instead.

 

 

 

The highlight of our short city tour was passing by Mattias Church and driving up the hillside to the Castle district on the Buda side of Budapest.  My photographing of the city was greatly hindered by the hordes of tourists. Wherever there are beautiful places, there are also tourists. How can I complain? After all, what was I doing here? The same thing they were doing here. I just wished they would leave me alone in the city to explore it without them. No such luck. That day will never come, so I must compromise or go home.

 

On the Buda side of the Danube River we saw the Mattias Church also known as the church of Our Lady or Nagyboldogasszony Templom. It is located in the Buda Castle District near to the Fisherman’s Bastion. It is a rare Catholic church that is not named after a saint. It was originally built in 1255 and named after King Matthias Corvinus who reigned from 1458-90 and was married here twice. The church underwent many renovations, additions and changes over the years with the changing trends in architecture.

In 1541, in the style of Europe and the Middle East, the church was turned into a mosque when the Turks occupied the city. Much of the original treasure and many of the frescoes were destroyed or removed. When the Turks were expelled in 1686 restoration began but only really took off in 1874 under the direction of Frigyes Schulek who redesigned the church in the Neo-Gothic style and restored much of the church’s former glory, as a Christian church. At least this was an improvement to the Christians. The Muslims probably disagreed.

Ludicrously Beautiful

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Hungary, photography

Ludicrously Beautiful

Finally, we arrived by boat in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary and the last city on our tour of the Balkans.  Many don’t actually consider Hungary to be part of the Balkans. To me it fits in. It feels like the Balkans. And, like the Balkans, it was dominated by Russia, Habsburgs, and Turks at various times.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and its most populous city with a population of about 1.8 million people. That makes it smaller than Toronto. It is located in the centre of the country and is its heart and soul. Budapest is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I am not sure I have ever seen a more beautiful city.

 

That inveterate traveler and lover of food, Anthony Bourdain, said, “of course, Budapest is beautiful. But it is in fact almost ludicrously beautiful.” I thought that was a pretty good description.

On the first morning after we arrived in the city and enjoyed a lovely breakfast, we took a tour of the city offered by our touring company. Frankly, it was a bit of a whirlwind tour. We saw a lot and remembered only a little.

This was our second time in Budapest. The first was on our Grand Sabbatical Tour in 2004. That year I was the first of the law partners in our firm to take advantage of our new “compulsory” sabbatical program. Our senior partner, was supposed to go, but refused. He was not ready. I happily stepped in as his replacement. I was more than ready. I was eager.  That year we took 3 months to travel around the world. 1 month in eastern Canada, 1 month in Europe—1 week on a quick tour of Europe and 3 weeks in Florence. The sabbatical lasted 3 months and changed my life forever.

I still remember how shocked we were in 2004 at how beautiful Budapest was. We had been told how beautiful Prague was. That was true. But no one mentioned Budapest to us. But we thought Budapest the most beautiful city we saw.

Today, we realized we were right the first time. It really was beautiful, particularly along the Danube from which I never travelled very far. In Budapest, everything comes together in the Danube River. That is why some call it the Queen of the Danube. Others call it the Pearl of the Danube.  But you get the idea.

Bourdain may have been exaggerating, but I certainly think it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

 

Heroes?

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Exploitation, Hungary, Pluralism

Our first stop of the day was at Heroes’ Square a UNESCO World Heritage site that features the Millennium Monument with statues of Hungarian Kings or chief-tans of the Magyars, the ancient Hungarians, as well as some other important leaders. It is considered an iconic plaza in Budapest of which the local are extremely proud.

 

We delighted in a Guided Sightseeing tour of Budapest, including the iconic Heroes’ Square, where we got off the bus and took a walk around the heroes and then followed this with a city tour of the exquisitely beautiful city of Budapest (pronounced Buda Pesht).

 

The monument was commissioned in 1896 to commemorate the foundation of the Hungarian state formed when the Magyars conquered the Carpathian Basin. In other words, that is when the Magyars took the land away from the indigenous people that occupied it at the time. Isn’t that how states work? It is called conquest, and conquests are rarely pretty. I wondered what was really heroic about that? Did the people from whom they took the land see them as heroes?

The monument consists of a semicircle of Doris columns with statues of various Hungarian figures on them. There is also an obelisk crowned with a statue of the Archangel Gabriel. I guess they are claiming that the conquest had God’s blessings. Aren’t Gods always thanked for military victories?

It was called Heroes’ Square for the first time, in 1906. In 1906 the Habsburgs ruled Hungary and they expected to add more of their family as years went by, for of course, they expected to rule forever. But the Hapsburgs lost their empire 12 years later. In fact, the Habsburg empire which had lasted for centuries, and in 1906 was commonly believed that it would endure forever, actually collapsed shortly after World War I ended

 

The Habsburgs lost their empire of Hungary with the collapse of Austria-Hungary following World War I, when Hungary declared independence and the last Emperor, Charles I, renounced his role, formally ending centuries of Habsburg rule over Hungarian lands, thus and ushering in a republic. That lasted until the communists of Russian captured it after World War II. All of these empires remind me of a famous English poem which I studied in high school.

 

 

 

 

Ozymandias

 

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Similarly, nothing remains of the glory of the Hapsburgs, though members of their family are still alive and well. Empires fade in time. Thankfully.

 

At the site we also saw the tomb of the unknown soldier as is commonly exhibited around Europe. I suppose it was intended to persuade the common people that it was heroic of them to offer their lives for the Habsburgs.  I am not so sure that one such tomb is worth the price. Unlike some of the tombs in Europe this one contains no human remains.

Who thinks it is worth it? Who thinks there is anything heroic here?

 

I wish more monuments were put up for people who worked hard at helping people to live together. Heroes for pluralism. That’s what we really need. Heroes for plunder not so much.

The square remains a focal point in Budapest and celebrations, ceremonies and the occasional protest are known to take place here. It’s a popular place for tourists to visit in the summer, and its giant proportions remain impressive.

 

Yet tourists are always brought here. We were brought here by our tour guide in 2004 and again this year. Just like last time, I got out of the coach and took a few photos. They call it a World Heritage Site and I think I have to photograph it.

Mohács: A place of Syncretism

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Hungary, Moral Humility, Music, Philosophy/Ideas, Pluralism, religion, syncretism

 

After seeing the watermills, the next thing we did was to tour the town of Mohács. The first thing that struck me, was the lovely pastel colours of the buildings.  I could not remember seeing anything like them. I could not resist photographing them.

The most interesting thing in the city centre where we walked was a large concrete Catholic Church. What interested me is that the church was designed in the style of a mosque.  And as we know, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. It was not a case of a mosque being taken over by Christians; it was a case of Christians giving a nod to Islam.

 

This area of the world had been rocked by wars with a deep element of religious opposition for centuries, but here was a case of one religion admitting maybe the other religion had something good as well. This was a case of them living together in peace. A marvel. Imagine that, Christians admitting they could learn something from Muslims. For once, after the Christians took over Mohács they did not have to destroy a mosque or cover it with a new building, they could admit we can learn from each other. Could this herald a new world order? I sure hope so.

I have for a long time thought that syncretism, as a philosophy, is the way to go.  Syncretism refers to the  blending of elements from one culture, religion, or philosophy with another to create something new in the process. Religions, or philosophies, or cultures don’t have to compete, they don’t have to claim superiority. They can join hands and make something better.

One good example, is the celebration of Christmas in Europe and North America actually merges various traditions of their own with traditions in the Egypt or the Near East  and with traditions of the winter solstice in northern Europe.  Some claim this is heretical. Personally, I celebrate the combination. Another good example is combining elements of Christian religion with spiritual traditions of North American Indigenous people. The fusion can create wonderful new creations.

This photo is from inside that church.

Musicians and artists have been doing this forever . For example, combining  Jazz artists with European musical notations and African elements  to produce a unique sound. For another , I have long loved the combing of rock, country, and bluegrass music.

No single genre or culture has the secret to it all. No single religion has a monopoly on truth. No philosophy has all the answers.  Culture is always a rich tapestry of strands that multiply the magic.  James W. Loewen, the author of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, said this: “ultimately syncretism illustrates he interconnectedness of human societies and the shared nature of cultural development.”

In my view, syncretism can be used to defeat the narrow-mindedness of those who live under the illusion that their philosophy, or their religion, or their ideas are the fount of all wisdom.

Mohács: Learning to Live Together

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Hungary, Pluralism

 

 

The last country we visited on our journey through the Balkans was Hungary.

Sadly, due to mobility issues we had to pass on the intriguing Guided Tour of Pécs to see its 4th-century Christian underground tombs. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with fascinating murals and what we were told by those who attended was an outstanding organ concert. Old people must learn they can’t do it all, and we are trying to recognize that. We humbly took a less adventurous excursion.

Our tour director said it would not be wise for Christiane to take this excursion and I decided to stay with her. Mohács is a city on the Danube River that is famous for its battle in 1526 when it was fought over by the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (Turks) in a battle very near to here. The Turkish invaders were led by Suleiman the Magnificent who this day at least was pretty magnificent in that he managed to overcome the Europeans by means of better planning, fire-power and a very well-organized encirclement that overwhelmed the Hungarians. The Turks stayed for 150 years after that.

The Turkish forces been duped the local Hungarian nobility to engage the Turks prematurely. As a result, most of the nobles were killed, the royal army destroyed, and the dynasty at that time of Hungary and Bohemia was ruined. After that battle, Hungary was partitioned between the Turks, the Hapsburg Empire, and the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.

After that battle, for centuries, Ottoman-Habsburg wars ensued and the  eventual decline of Hungary as an independent power followed.  In Hungary, it is still considered a major tragedy. In this part of the world, tragedies are not swiftly forgotten. They are remembered and later used to kindle new flames of outrage. Mohács is viewed by many Hungarians as the decisive point at which things went wrong and many want to make Hungary Great Again. Hungarians often say, “More was lost at Mohács.” Many Hungarians, hundreds of  years later are still stung by the humiliating defeat. They see this event as the point at which it lost its independence and power.

 

Really, Hungary lost because of happened next, namely, 200 years of constant warfare between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires that turned Hungary into a perpetual battlefield and during which its traditional territories were divided into 3. The country was frequently ravaged by armies moving back and forth across it and devastating the population.  What should have happened—but did not—was that the empires should have learned to live together in peace. The constant battles proved futile and costly. Had both sides concentrated on living together and building up their countries both Turkey and Hungary would have been much better off. Once again, extremists who preferred battles to peace led the people astray. I keep coming back to the idea of pluralism—people getting along with each other instead of fighting. It may not be as grand, but it sure is a lot better.

 

Mohács is a quiet town on the Danube River and there we toured the remarkable medieval St. Nicholas Watermill—one of only a few remaining watermills performing stone-ground grain processing.

 

It had been recently restored as it suffered serious damage during the Croatian War. Interestingly, on the grounds there was a large image of what it looked like in 2007 more than 10 years after the war.

Our guide Zsuzi, tried very hard all day to make the day interesting for us. She cleverly loves Mohács and tried to make us understand why. The mill is one of of the very few remaining watermills performing stone-ground grain processing.

There are actually 4 active mills here and I was particularly interested by the one mill there which was not driven by stream power, but instead human power. Originally, the humans who did the work of driving the huge mill, were slaves. Apparently, this is now unique in the world. The slaves  had to tread on the mill’s wheel for many hours every day. I guess that is where the word “tread mill” comes from—The wooden wheel is large and heavy. It would have been extremely hard work, but who ever said slave’s work was interesting?

 

Yugoslavia: No Stranger to Extremism

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia, Decline of the west, Extremism, Hate, History, Serbia

 

Those who are still with me on this journey will be happy to know we are nearing the end. Only one country left to go and I have been talking too long about Yugoslavia. I am almost done. I have taken so long because I think Yugoslavia and the countries that emerged when it broke up are so important.  And all of the problems, I believe, relate to one very important issue. That is an issue that is get increasingly important in the modern world, including, of course, Canada and the United States. That is the rise in extremism.

 

By now it is obvious that extremism was rampant in Yugoslavia when it splintered in the early 1990s.  As a result, I think Yugoslavia is a country to which more of us in the west should pay attention.  Why is that? Because it can be a lesson to us all. Perhaps, we can learn enough to avoid their painful mistakes. The key lesson is, that it is incredibly dangerous to turn our country over to the extremists in our midst.

 

In Yugoslavia, people of various ethnicities lived together in relative peace for many decades. And peace is like health, if you take it for granted you are not appreciating it properly. It is too easy to forget how vital peace is to the good life. Canadians and Americans both take them for granted, at our peril.

 

In Yugoslavia after their charismatic leader, Tito, died, literally all hell broke loose. The dogs of war were running free and wild after he died. As soon as Tito died, the country became polarized all over again.  People moved to the extremes. The centre was hollowed out. People began to see other people who had different political or religious viewpoints from them, as enemies, rather than opponents. And this happened quite suddenly. From neighbours to enemies in 60 seconds. People could no longer live together with their foes. Some wanted to live separate and apart. Friendship turned to hatred. And the hate curdled and turned to violence.

 

In Canada, I shuddered when I first saw the Truckers’ Convoy that got international coverage carrying signs on their trucks that said, “F**ck Trudeau.”  I saw the same signs in Ottawa, and Steinbach. Trudeau was very popular, until he wasn’t and with amazing speed he  was hated when many Canadians considered him their enemy. It seemed like there was no room in the country for calm reasoning, or a middle ground. The extremist voices were the loudest. Some Albertans wanted to separate from Canada. Some still do. If these voices win the day, what makes us think that the violence that happened in Yugoslavia won’t happen here too. Albertans think they can no longer live with people in Quebec. Many in Quebec have felt that way for decades. What went wrong? Why do so many of us turn towards the loudest voices? Why are so many of us so quiet? Why do so many of us hate the other side? Even our leaders seem to turn to the extremes. Our Member of Parliament in Steinbach offered coffee and treats for the Truckers’ Convoy when it passed nearby. He found time for them, but never found time for the Pride Parade. He clearly admired the extremists. The LGBTQ* community not so much. This was during the time of Covid-19 when we were all on edge. Many hated Covid restrictions. Many of the truckers thought that freedom meant they could do whatever they wanted. They wanted a country without rules or regulations.

 

We in Canada, and even more in the US, are deeply polarized. Yugoslavia can show us what can happen in such circumstances. It is not pretty.

 

Eric Hobsbawn, another brilliant British historian, wrote about extremists in his series of history books on Europe. He pointed out how

 

“in the period from 1880 to 1914 nationalism took a dramatic leap forward, and its ideological and political content was transformed.  It’s very vocabulary indicates the significance of these years. For the word ‘nationalism’ itself first appeared at the end of the nineteenth century to describe groups of right-wing ideologists in France and Italy, keen to brandish the national flag against foreigners, liberals, and socialists, and in favor of aggressive expansions of their own state which was to become so characteristic of such movements. This was also the period when the song ‘Deutschland Über Alles’ (“Germany above all others) replaced rival compositions to become the actual national anthem of Germany. [Sort of like America First] Though it originally described only a right-wing version of the phenomenon, the word ‘nationalism’ proved to be more convenient than the clumsy ‘principle of nationality’ which had been part of the vocabulary of European politics since about 1830. And so it came to be used for all movements to which the ‘national cause’ was paramount in politics: that is to say for all demanding the right to self-determination, i.e. in the last analysis to form an independent state, for some nationally defined group.”

 

Love of country can be a beautiful thing. Who after all does not love her country? But when it turns to hating the other country, the rival,  it can turn powerfully ugly. This is what all nationalists must guard against, whether they are Adolf Hitler or Donald Trump.  As Hobsbawn wrote,

 

“The basis of ‘nationalism’ of all kinds was the same: the readiness of people to identify themselves as emotionally with ‘their’ nation and to be politically mobilized as Czechs, Germans, Italians, or whatever, a readiness which could be politically exploited. The democratization of politics, and especially elections, provided ample opportunities for mobilizing them. When states did so they called it ‘patriotism’, and the essence of the original ‘right-wing’ nationalism, which emerged in already established nation-states, was to claim a monopoly of patriotism for the extreme political right, and thereby brand everyone else as some sort of traitor. This was a new phenomenon, for during most of the nineteenth century nationalism had been rather identified with liberal and radical movements and with traditions of the French Revolution.”

And extremism and nationalism go together like rum and coke, but they don’t taste as sweet.

Throughout the Balkans, after World War II this became a big problem. Whether in Romania, Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Serbia, or Croatia, this became a big problem. It is becoming a big problem in the United States today.  Canada seems to be following its big brother into troubled waters. Hitler exploited it. Now Trump is exploiting it. Poilievre would like to exploit it. That’s how the world turns.  But we must be careful.  Look at Yugoslavia to see what could easily happen.

 

Has the newest American Civil War started?

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia, Death of Democracy, Decline of the west, Extremism, Hate, Pluralism, Polarization

 

 

Ignatieff pointed out when he first published Blood and Belonging in 1993 that federal states were all having trouble remaining unified.  He mentioned of course, Yugoslavia which was in the act of breaking up violently.  It actually had 5 Civil Wars in quick succession. All of them violent. But he also mentioned Canada which was facing strong chances of breaking up with the rise of Quebec nationalism. He also mentioned that most other federal states, such as India, Belgium and the former USSR were also facing challenges to thier  federal system.

 

Of course, since then things have got worse. Canada is now facing a threat to its union by Alberta in addition to Quebec. More importantly, the United States which is also a federal state but was not on his list of trouble federal states is now clearly in that camp as many of its so-called red states and blue-states seem to find living together increasingly difficult. Federalism is a political system designed to permit people to live together even though they have some pretty big differences without breaking up.  Such a system did not allow Yugoslavia to stay together. I would add another factor that is challenging federal states, and this is the rise of polarization. Polarization is clearly affecting federal states by driving its elements apart.

 

One of the regular political commentators I read, even though I often disagree with him, is Thomas Friedman, who has won 3 Pulitzer prizes.  That is pretty outstanding for a journalist. I read an article by him this week in the New York Times  in which he said this about his country, “in my view, we are in a new civil war over a place called home.” He thinks the United States is already in the midst of Civil War!   Last year I watched a film called Civil War, about an imagined Civil War in the United States. It was horrifying. Is that what the US is facing?  Even if it is not that kind of a break-up we have to ask, ‘What is happening to the United States?’

It’s horrifying about sums it up.

Nationalism and Pluralism

2025 Cruise up the Danube River, Croatia, Extremism, Hate, Moral Humility, Pluralism, Polarization, Serbia

 

I think we all know what nationalism is. It has been with us much longer than pluralism. Unfortunately, nationalism is also much more common than pluralism.

 

Nationalism is usually considered an ideology which emphasizes loyalty to a particular nation. It can be a force for good. Often it is a force for bad. It often promotes devotion to one’s own country above all.  The lates strong iteration of it, is the MAGA movement in the US. Make America great again. Or for those who already think it is a great, make it greater.  America First would be a more important principle for American nationalists. When it leads to feelings of superiority it has usually gone too far. A strong love of one’s own country is a natural feeling and unobjectionable.  But feelings of superiority are often unjustified and not very productive.

 

Pluralism is the recognition and affirmation of diversity within a society, where different groups, interests, and beliefs coexist and interact peacefully. It sees strength in diversity which all can benefit from. It not only tolerates diverse views, and even peoples, it celebrates in diversity. Respect of other cultures is essential to the philosophy of pluralism.  Feelings of superiority are an anathema. Nationalism can be a fierce opponent of pluralism. In such a case, in my view, nationalism has gone too far. Pluralism is incompatible with extremism. You can one but not both. Pluralism is born out humility.

 

The struggle between nationalism and pluralism is often fraught. For example, recent examples close to home, are the relationship between Quebec and its separatists, who want to form the independent, or sovereign nation, as they like to call it, of Quebec. In Canada, Alberta is the latest example of where feelings are tending towards separation. How far those feelings will lead that province are not known.

 

In Yugoslavia feelings of pluralism were swamped by nationalism, except in those states where a yearning for separation by smaller groups  prevailed. After their leader Tito died, many Croats wanted to have Croatia secede from Yugoslavia. At the same time, Serbians within Croatia did not want to secede because they felt they would become a minority in the new country, when they had been a majority in power in Yugoslavia. As well, some Slovenians wanted to secede from Yugoslavia, and that was opposed by the Croats within as well as Serbians.

 

The struggle for separate national states often leads to serious political problems. It can, and has, frequently led to serious conflict. Around the world people have come to favor nationalism at the expense of pluralism. That is usually a serious mistake. In the former Yugoslavia after the death of Tito, clearly nationalism had the floor. Pluralism seemed dead. Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, all wanted to be sovereign states even if violence was the only way to achieve it.

 

There was no credible force for pluralism.  I often quote William Butler Yeats who described this phenomena well: The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.” Serbia claimed to be the leader for unity of the states, but all the others lacked confidence that its claims were not based solely on its interest in dominating the other states. No one argued for all for one and one for all that is the precondition pluralism requires.

Pluralism was dead; war of all against all commenced. And the people suffered.