We believe that the values of our past are the pillars of our future. Our mission is to preserve and pass on the Hungarian historical and cultural heritage and to exercise respectful memory because the key to a strong Hungary is a deep-rooted national identity. It is our conviction that the future of our country in a unified Europe built on nation-states is based on the responsible education of young generations having a solid Hungarian awareness who think in terms of national cohesion. We consider it to be our strategic task to serve this. We believe that the preservation of the spiritual heritage of Hungarians, furthermore, the broad dissemination of the culture of national memory, are of key importance in this work.
“There is no future without a past, and the richer your past, the more strings you will have to connect to the future.”
(Mihály Babits)
The National Heritage Institute as an institution of the Prime Minister’s Office, is the assets manager and operator of locations of symbolic significance from the aspect of the nation’s past and historical memory, such as the Fiumei Road Cemetery, the Salgótarjáni Street Jewish Cemetery and the National Park of Mourning of the New Public Cemetery. At the same time, the National Heritage Institute exercises rights of disposition over the National Cemetery, that is, the protected graves of the most prominent representatives of the Hungarian nation lying within the country's borders, acting as an umbrella organization uniting the national and historical monuments of our nation. It is our objective to contribute to the realization of our mission through the careful treatment of the built and spiritual cultural heritage entrusted to us.
“If you want to know how much a nation appreciates its past, look at its cemeteries”.
(Count István Széchenyi)