Kazinczy Memorial Hall

A neoclassical temple to the man who reformed the Hungarian language

The memorial hall is a perfect little Greek temple set in a clearing of hornbeams. Inside is a single high-ceilinged room with a bust of Kazinczy, panels in Hungarian about his life, and the visitor's book that every Hungarian schoolchild on a literary outing seems to sign. A pathway of clipped hornbeams leads from the temple to the writer's grave, which is unfussily marked.

The estate around the hall is a small landscaped park, free to wander. The location is deliberately quiet — Kazinczy spent decades here writing letters that effectively re-engineered modern Hungarian from the soil up, and the place still feels like a writer's hideaway. Combine the visit with the Language Museum next door.

things to do sight museum
A story
When Kazinczy died of cholera in 1831 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences raised a national subscription to build a fitting memorial on the site of his country house. The architect Miklos Ybl designed a small neoclassical temple, completed in 1873 — the first national literary monument in Hungary.