Hungarikum is a collective term indicating a value worthy of distinction and highlighting within a unified system of qualification, classification, and registry and which represents the high performance of Hungarian people thanks to its typically Hungarian attribute, uniqueness, specialty and quality.
In the beginning of the 21th century a movement was organized that aimed to systematize and sum up the Hungarian values. After a broad societal and professional collation, the Act number XXX of 2012 concerning Hungarian national values and Hungarikums was established and declared by the Hungarian Government on the 2nd of April, 2012. The act’s purpose is to give a legal frame to Hungarian people in order to specify and identify their own values, moreover to contribute the promotion of collected values.
Definition of Hungarikum by the Act:
Hungarikum is a collective term indicating a value worthy of distinction and highlighting within a unified system of qualification, classification, and registry and which represents the high performance of Hungarian people thanks to its typically Hungarian attribute, uniqueness, specialty and quality,
- which are considered the work and outstanding value of the Hungarian people both within Hungary and abroad, or
- which are natural values under protection, or
- which are national products of a superior standard, or
- which are classified as hungarikums by the Hungarikum Committee as a result of the individual assessment conducted in accordance with the provisions set forth in the legislation issued for the enforcement of this law, or which are considered as Hungarikums by virtue of this law.
How can something become Hungarikum?
According to the National Value Pyramid’s bottom-up building system, anyone is allowed to make a suggestion for a value to the basic collections by filling out the proper standard form. After the admission, the now so-called national value can be suggested further to the Collection of Hungarian Values and the Hungarikum Committee decides whether the national value might be accepted or not. If something becomes an outstanding national value, then the petitioner has the possibility to submit it to the Collection of Hungarikums and if the Hungarikum Committee agrees the value can be named as Hungarikum.
There are 12 exceptions that have been named as Hungarikums. These 12 values became Hungarikums by the decision of the Hungarikum Committee based on the above mentioned Act’s III. 12. § (2) point due to the fact that these values can be found on the UNESCO world heritage list.
