What a Beautiful World we Live In - Parliament

Picture by me - Parliament at nighttime is great!

   

Picture taken by me of Parliament!

Internet imagine - Beautiful!

  Today the JSBPer’s set out on a field studies experience, which we were all extremely ecstatic for, a visit to the Hungarian House of Parliament. This beautiful and vast building is situated on the Danube River and it is one of the most astounding buildings I have ever seen, inside and out. It is the largest building in Hungary, which is not a surprise when you see it in front of you. Parliament was constructed in 1885 and completed in 1902 and the architecture inside is unbelievable. There are gold structures, arches, statues, hand-made carpets specifically made for the bulding, and most importantly the Holy Crown.

I couldn't get a good picture since I couldn't use my flash during this part of the tour so I thought a picture from online would do it better justice! THE HOLY CROWN.

         

      The Crown is located in the Central Hall of Parliament under the dome, which I thought was the most breath-taking aspect of the building. It was extremely interesting in my opinion to finally see the Crown because we have learned about it a lot in both our Hungarian History and European Culture classes. The date the Crown was made is debated today but it is about 800 to 1,000 years old. Saint Stephan was the first King who was crowned with this magnificent “hat” which is also appealing because I have been into Saint Stephan’s Basilica, which is the second largest building in Hungary. This made me understand how great it is to connect all the dots while we have been living in Budapest. I think this is a large and important aspect of the Justice Studies Program. Between the two classes taught by our Hungarian Professors and the Field Studies class, we have learned and seen so much history within Budapest and throughout Hungary. It is fascinating to see it all and experience everything we have, especially when we can tie everything together and recognize facts discussed or statues of important people, such as Saint Stephan.

            We were also fortunate enough today to watch an “in session” day in Parliament. We witnessed members of Parliament and Ministers discuss different aspects of the Hungarian government. Since it was all in Magyar we of course could not understand, but Ildiko explained to us that they were discussing different duties and features of the current media within Budapest. The craziest part of watching the Hungarian Parliament members talk was that no one else in the room was paying attention to whoever was speaking! Everyone was either very uninterested or had a lot of other work to do because at least two people answered their phones, while most were reading the newspaper, looking and typing on their computer (probably checking their email or Facebook), and some older man was even sleeping! This reiterated to me that I do not want to be involved directly within politics. Of course there are a lot of exciting aspects of government, especially within Hungarian, which is a 20-year-old democratic state, but it seems so boring sometimes. I really would not like this, nor would I like being the speaker and realizing that no one is listening to me. I thought it was very rude that no one was paying attention but after thinking about it more I probably would have been doing the same as the other distracted members. I suppose that may not be a good thing, but I think that is reality. I also was too busy looking at the wonderful architecture around me during the discussion, therefore maybe some members possess this problem too!

Inside of the room where the Parliament members were ignoring each other! We couldn't take pictures in the room with them but this is the same exact room but on the opposite wing of the building. The only difference was some of the architecture and the chairs.

The dome in the building - The Holy Crown is in here.

This was another great connection of the field studies experience. Mary and I went to a museum earlier this year for our Hungarian History class, where the artist of all of the stained glass in the Parliament  building lived and we learned about his work. His name is Miklos Roth.

The first thing we see when we walk in - Beautiful Nellika in the picture too!

            Overall, this was a great field studies experience. This is definitely one that all groups should continue to see when they come abroad to Budapest. I also liked that it was at the end of our program because when our tour guide was discussing information about the Holy Crown and the different wings of Parliament it made sense because we are very knowledgeable in this topics from our classes here. Great connections were made! Wonderful day in Budapest!

This is a video of the dome, The Holy Crown, and the guards doing their changing march. This is something they do every hour. They were very still and great at their job of guarding the precious Crown.