Hungary National Anthem — Himnusz

The "Himnusz" is a prayer rather than a march. It opens "Isten, áldd meg a magyart" ("O God, bless the Hungarian"), asking for "good cheer and abundance" and a "protecting arm" when the nation "strives against the enemy".

Its most striking lines speak of a people "long torn by ill fate" who have "already atoned for the past and the future" — a mournful sense of a nation that has suffered greatly through history. Where many anthems boast of glory, the Hungarian anthem pleads for mercy and relief.

Ferenc Kölcsey completed the poem "Himnusz" on 22 January 1823. In 1844 the National Theatre held a competition to set it to music, won by Ferenc Erkel, Hungary's foremost opera composer. It quickly became the national song and was later enshrined in the Hungarian constitution. Kölcsey's poem has eight stanzas, but only the first is performed as the anthem.

22 January, the date Kölcsey finished the poem, is celebrated as the Day of Hungarian Culture. The anthem's prayerful, even mournful tone reflects a national history of hardship, and it is sung with great solemnity at state occasions, on New Year's Eve and at moments of national significance.

The "Himnusz" is the national anthem of Hungary, one of the most solemn of the world's national anthems. The poem is by Ferenc Kölcsey (1823) and the music by Ferenc Erkel (1844).

It is enshrined in Hungary's constitution and is in the public domain. Only the first verse is sung.