MaNDAHungarian National Digital Archive

Love fades away slowly, especially if it is platonic. How many untold words and missed opportunities are hidden behind tiny little memories and letters? Waiting, suffering, the joy, the pain and many more sentiments could be hidden in a young girl’s heart, when she decided to give up her desires. Whether provincial prudery or a moral question stood behind this? Anyway, could you keep a secret like your love is Endre Ady for decades? Today’s selection highlights this mysterious relationship; with Endre Ady, Illi Kíváncsi (Curious), the family Varga and their relatives.

The term ‘verso’ has Latin origin (folio verso) and is used to describe the back of a visiting card. The heyday of the visiting card in photography was between 1852 and 1919, and these cards were usually portraits, the verso of which was discovered very early by photographers as an advertising medium. On the back of the cards, the photographers not only gave the address of their studios but also their awards, accompanied by artistic graphics. In our current selection, these ornate versos, and with them the photographers' careers come to life.

The 230th Article of the Act II of 1939 provided for the labour service of public interest, which ordered the obligation to male residents of Hungarian citizenship who were unfit for military service and had reached the age of twenty-four. The training provided within the military framework had to be completed in labour camps for persons specified by law, and the duration of service was set at three months a year. The first labour battalions began their work in July 1939, so by the end of the summer of 1940 it became clear that the incompetence was not interpreted by the legislature in terms of physical health, but by origin and political reliability. The decree is thus difficult to interpret other than the supplement to Jewish laws.

Ignác Alpár was one of the outstanding architects of historicism at the turn of the century. He worked in almost every architectural genre, but without doubt, one of the highlights of his career was the Historical Main Group of the Millennium Exhibition, the building complex known as the Vajdahunyad Castle in the City Park. It is no coincidence that he is also regarded as a "bank building specialist", as his career took off by designing buildings such as the Tőzsdepalota (Stock Exchange Palace) on Szabadság Square. In our latest selection, we look back at the stories of some of his famous buildings.