Hungarian Cowboy
by Joan Carroll
Title
Hungarian Cowboy
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art
Description
The driver who picked us up at the Budapest airport to take us to our B&B found out we were from Texas and so told us all about a saddle he had purchased from Texas and had a pilot friend bring to him in Budapest. At the time it seemed a bit of a curiosity but I soon found out differently! There is a rich tradition of horsemanship in Hungary. And even in a very prominent location ( a courtyard at Buda Castle) stands this statue of a Hungarian cowboy (Hortobagyi csikos) by Gyorgy Vastagh. The sculpture won international recognition for its creator at the Paris World Exhibitions of 1900 and 1901. Lest you be scratching your head over this, thinking the American West is the only place for cowboys, think again! The csikos is the mounted horse-herdsman of Hungary. For more than 2,000 years, the Great Hungarian Plain has been home to a rich cultural tradition of pastoral living and animal husbandry techniques, from ancient nomadic tribes to the fierce Magyar warriors. The plain covers 52,000 sq km in eastern and southern Hungary alone, encompassing 56% of the country. But its full area measures nearly twice that amount, including parts of Romania, Serbia and Croatia. The region is especially well known for the semi-nomadic mounted herdsmen (or csikosok) who once roamed Hortobagy's expansive alkaline pastures and steppes. The herdsmen hold a similar place in the country's cultural memory as cowboys do in the western United States.At the heart lies the Hortobagy National Park, 800 square kilometers of pastures, marshes and bird-filled meadows. It was awarded World Heritage status in 1999, and is managed by centuries-old farming practices. Here, stock herders and csikos horsemen -- Hungary's answer to cowboys -- oversee breeds of curly-haired pig and scimitar-horned cattle.
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March 10th, 2015
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