Széchenyi István | Magyarország Videós Arcképcsarnoka

Politician, imperial and royal chamberlain, writer, polymath, economist, a Batthyány government transportation minister, "the biggest Hungarian"

Lajos Kossuth praised it like this:

"great men in civic virtue, such as the one whom I, not out of cowardly flattery, but out of conviction, call the greatest of the Hungarians."

Through his ideas, influence and practical activity, the modern Hungary one of its creators. One of the most prominent and significant figures of Hungarian politics, whose name is the Hungarian economy, a transport, foreign policy and sportsReforms carried out in are attached. His books containing his ideas, Credit, World and Stadium, had a huge impact on the intellectual renewal of his time.

In 1827 a London and Parisian was founded on the model of club life by National Casino, to create a social forum for nobility, intellectuals and patriots who want to do something.

Among his practical works are the establishment of today's Hungarian Academy of Sciences foundation (Hungarian Society of Scientists), a chain Bridge creation, shipping and shipbuilding (Óbuda Shipyard), the establishment of steam navigation on the Balaton, the regulation of the Vaskapu, the flood relief of the Tisza region, and he was one of the promoters of modern wine production, silkworm breeding, sugar production, gas lighting, and national railway development. With the creation of the first steam roller mill, he is the founder of modern flour production.

In 1842, he proposed the construction of the Buda tunnel by drilling through Várhegy at the Buda bridgehead of the Chain Bridge under construction.

He was the originator of horse racing and horse breeding, and later of rowing, in Hungary: he created the first boathouse (Csónakda), and in 1841 he founded the first Boating Association, starting the first rowing competitions.

He is the founder and namesake of many institutions, the founder of joint stock companies important in the development of industry and economy. On his initiative, the first Hungarian-language theater in Pest-Buda was opened in 1837, which was called the National Theater from 1840.