Funeral of György Fekete

Outstanding interior designer, applied artist, Artist of the Nation, former and honorary President of HAA, György Fekete died on 15 April aged 88 and his funeral took place at the Fiumei út cemetery in Budapest on 23 June at 11 a.m. according to the liturgy of the Reformated Church. Among others the funeral was attended by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, President of Hungary, János Áder, Minister for Human Recources János Kásler,Vice-President of the National Assembly, Sándor Lezsák, President of HAA, György Vashegyi, interior designer Gábor Mezei, Bishop of the Trans-Tisza Reformed Diocese, Károly Fekete. The ceremony was lead by Calvinist pastor and former Minister of Human Resources, Zoltán Balog.
In his oration Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: „Construction always starts from the inside. This was his philosophy. There, inside, must be born what will strive to find itself, and take shape. This is the message of the seemingly technical term "interior designer". And this vocation was part of the essence of György Fekete. How many times did he come to me with the ever more bitter complaint that interior design should finally be an independent university subject? He was excited, electrified, by what lies under the surface: the inner structure that gives solidity; that which is built from the inside outward, like the skin of an apple or the shell of a snail. "I am within, and I design around myself", he would say. This is the way of thinking of someone who can carry the essence of national culture only within their being, for decades. It is the way of thinking of someone who, in 1956 at the age of 23, during the siege of the radio headquarters, wrote his farewell letter to the world and hid it among the books in the Italian Cultural Institute, so that decades later someone would find it after Hungary had won its freedom. This is someone who collects fifteen thousand images of the Holy Crown of Hungary. Someone for whom there is consonance between national culture and protection of the nation state's positions. This is the way of thinking of someone who is not deceived by the distinction between the instruments used by artists and politicians – because he knows that in essence they are related professions. At least they certainly are here in Hungary. This is also why he briefly ventured to immerse himself in the world of party politics."
György Fekete's artistic lifework has included over almost all areas of internal design. Besides, he entered politics after the end of the communist era in the government of József Antall (1990-1994) and set up the National Cultural Fund as the cultural ministry's deputy state secretary. He had a major role in establishing HAA, the peak cultural institution of Hungary under Viktor Orbán's government in 2011. He served as the President of HAA between 2011–2017 and since then as its honorary president. He received Hungary's highest state award, the Kossuth Award in 2012. In 2017 Prime Minister Viktor Orbán presented the Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit to him. As a native of Zalaegerszeg he was given the title of honorary citizen of Zalaegerszeg in 2003 and in 2017 that of Zala county for his long time activity in the cultural life and for supporting the culture of Zalaegerszeg and Zala county. He was also the honorary citizen of Tornyospálca and of the 12th district of Budapest.
July 7, 2020