A sound mind in a sound body

Physical education – the expression supposes a noble and elevating activity, but we might not be wrong saying that it recalls the torture of rope-climbing or the memory of running around breathlessly in many people. Some people would rather forget about the experience of physical education at school, though nobody questions the importance of a regular exercise. This week, we are reviewing the reasons why the P.E. lesson was born.

P.E. lessons from sports politics

The introduction of school gymnastics is connected to Kunó Klebelsberg, who also promoted the training of P.E. teachers parallelly. In 1925, he established the Royal Hungarian College of Physical Education. The Hungarian sports life did not start developing during his ministership naturally; this process had already been present since the beginning of the 20th century, when sports became an integral part of Europe and also became part of everyday life gradually. The 1910s was the period of gymnastic festivals, where participants could show their knowledge in artistic ways to the audience. The employment of “the Hungarian physical education system” started in the twenties, when the earlier German gymnastics was replaced by the Swedish one. The innovation of the Swedish movement was the use of gymnastics equipment: rings and bars for men, beam and uneven bars for women. The German gymnastics remained in the form of military field exercises.

Returning to P.E. teachers, their secondary education was an 8-10-month long course of the National Exercise Club, which was not famous for its modernity even back then. Besides that unfortunately, P.E. teachers were not regarded as equal teachers before Klebelsberg’s reforms; which was rectified later.

But why did exercise become so important? Although the peace dictate of Trianon recalls the losing of territories and population in everyone’s mind, other limitations also took effect by the signing of the contract. For example, the number limit of the military force that had to work on voluntary basis, without military training.
Due to the disarmament of the army, it seemed necessary to organise the physical education of the school children at least. On the other hand, Kunó Klebelsberg thought that the country might be recovered by educating youngsters’ physique and personality carefully. That is why institutionalised P.E. lessons were introduced. Besides theory, some practical changes also happened: they started constructing gymnasia for schools.

The sports political activity of the Minister brought about important changes in three fields: the school education that was mentioned above, the physical education at school (also covered), and the physical education outside school. These activities were: levente organisations and scouts’ movements. Working people could not be left without exercise either, thus company sports were launched. The act of 1921 on physical education ordered that every factory employing more than a thousand people had to establish a sports complex for its employees. Thus, the question of physical education became a public affair, and its effect is still felt.

TÉ

Translated by Zita Aknai

Sources:

https://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00035/00087/2004-12-mk-Dorka-Klebelsberg.html

Recommendation

A little Hungarian chess history

According to what we know today, the game of chess originated in India. It started its world conquest in the 7th century from there, as well as from Persia. It was probably brought to Europe through Arab mediation. Where, when and from whom we Hungarians learned the game is not known. However, the sport of the mind has a rich history in our country too.

Wash yourself cleverly – Time travel in hygiene I.

‘Have you washed your hands?’ – a familiar motherly warning from our childhood often comes to our minds before meals, especially, when we transmit this wisdom already as parents. In the recent decades, nobody disputes the importance of personal hygiene any more or puts the question if our flat has a bathroom. Washing your body is a basic part of the body culture including both cleaning your body and your clothes.

Cave dwellings in the Bükk Mountain

The hollows, cave- or shore-dwellings, also known as cellar houses or stone houses, carved into the softer rock of hillsides for human habitation, are a special product of Hungarian folk architecture. These types of dwellings can be found in the mountainous areas of Hungary, mainly in the North Hungarian Mountains, the Buda Hills and the Transdanubian region. Our database contains a large number of images of cave dwellings in the Bükk and Bükkalja, so we will focus on this region in the article.

The world of medieval castles

Despite that only the rich could afford the luxury of building castles, living in a castle seems rather miserable for today’s people due to the underdevelopment of the Middle Ages. However, the interior spaces were more decorated; the rooms were less furnished and darker (especially in winter) than you would think today.

History of the Blue Ribbon Regatta on Lake Balaton

In Hungary, sailing was considered an aristocratic luxury initially. At the end of the 1700s, György Festetics was the first to invite his royal guests to sail to Lake Balaton on his sailing boat called Phönix. Later, in 1866, thanks to the tabloid news that Elisabeth of Austria would spend the summer in Balatonfüred, the desire to sail revived. The magnates brought sailboats to Lake Balaton and renewed the infrastructure around the lake to provide the queen with entertainment.

Cleanliness is half health

From Sándor Márai's Confessions of a Citizen, we know that "The bourgeoisie of the end of the century usually bathed only when they were ill or got married." The notion of cleanliness focused on something quite different, largely on the visible parts of the body, primarily clothing and the living environment. What was clean petticoats for women was clean collars and cuffs for men. The efforts our ancestors made to achieve the coveted cleanliness that was often synonymous with health are revealed in our latest selection.

More thematic virtual exhibitions