Monthly Lunches

November 21

Tea Session at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Speaker: Colonel Douglas Daniel, US Army (Retired). Title of presentation: "The War in Ukraine: Analysis and Lessons".

October 26

Tea Session in Marriott Hotel. Speaker: Mr Róbert Pinter, Assistant Professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest. Title of Presentation: „Will robots take our jobs? Possible drastic social and economic consequences of artificial intelligence – Part 2”.

September 15

Grandhouse lunch in the Hungarian Academy of Science. Speaker: former American Ambassador to Hungary, H.E. Mrs April Foley. Title of presentation: "The Importance of Citizen Diplomacy in Hungarian American Relations".

September 3

Grandhouse Tea Session in the home of our members, Sándor Köles and Márta Márczis, host and hostess of the event. Speaker: Mr Zsolt Szekeres, one of the founders and also the treasurer of the Hungarian-American Coalition, based in Washington DC. The title of his presentation: „The Hungarian American Coalition: Building Bridges Between Hungary and the US”. 

July 20

Grandhouse Tea Session in the Marriott Hotel. Speaker: Mr Sándor Köles, President of the Carpathian Foundation. Title of presentation: "Ukraine behind the News of the War - on-the-ground analysis and report on PASS USA's three humanitarian missions in 2022-23".

June 19

Grandhouse Tea Session in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Speaker: the Ambassador of Romania, H.E. Mr Gabriel Șopandă. The title of his presentation: ‘Romania’s Economic Weight in Central-Eastern Europe‘. After the presentation both Ambassador Șopandă and our honorary member, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Géza Jeszenszky will discuss – seated in leather fauteuils – some of the topics from the presentation.

May 25

Grandhouse Garden Party in the home of our members, Charles and Catherine Kovacs, host and hostess of the event. Speaker: Professor Tibor Fabiny. Title of Presentation: "Shakespeare and the period he lived in".  

May 17

Grandhouse Tea Session in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Speaker: presentation by Mr William (Willy) Benkő. Title of presentation: ”The Three Skills that will change your life at any age…..”. Speaker introduced by Gábor Patzauer.

April 17

Grandhouse Tea Session in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Speaker: Colonel Douglas Daniel, US Army (Retired). Title of presentation: ‘Leadership and Management Lessons from the Russo-Ukraine War’. Speaker introduced by our member, Judit Hegedűs.

March 16

Grandhouse Lunch in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Speaker: Mr Balázs Bokor, former Ambassador and presently President of the Hungarian Hollywood Council. Title of presentation: ‘Hungarian Roots of Hollywood’. Speaker introduced by our member, Chris Daniels.

December 14

Grandhouse event in the Marriott Hotel with Dr Ákos Horváth, Director General of the Centre for Energy Research, as speaker. Title of the presentation: "The challenges ahead our energy system". Dr Horváth is introduced by our member, Norbert Babcsán.

December 6

Grandhouse event at the CEU with a presentation from Professor Dr Tibor Fabiny, a teacher and researcher at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Budapest. The title of the presentation is: “Burning to Read: The Story of 16th Century English Bible Translations”. The speaker is introduced by our member, János Mátyásfalvi.

The event has been postponed to next year.

November 15

Grandhouse event in the Matild Palace with Professor Dr Ákos Péter Bod as speaker. The title of his presentation: „Stagflation in Hungary. What comes next?”. The speaker is introduced by our member, Charles Kovacs.

October 11

Grandhouse event in the Marriott Hotel with Professor Dr István Gyarmati as speaker. He  gave a talk about the war in Ukraine within the wider context of the power rivalry today. The title of his presentation is: „The world today, with special attention to the Russian aggression against Ukraine”. The speaker was introduced by our member, Sándor Köles.

September 21

Grandhouse event in the Marriott Hotel with Mr Balázs Stumpf-Biró as speaker. The title of his presentation: “There's no way out, we're in this together - living in a transforming world”. Mr Stumpf-Biró was introduced by our member, András Krajnyák.

August 31

Grandhouse event at the CEU with Dr Zsombor Jékely, art historian, as speaker. The title of his presentation: „The Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, a Center of Hungarian Art Nouveau”. Dr Jékely was introduced by our member, Alex Leonas.

June 15

Grandhouse event with Dr Norbert Babcsán as speaker. Title of his presentation: „The basics of nano technology and the revolutionary applications in nearly every sector of industry and science”.

May 4

A Grandhouse lunch was held again in the Matild Palace on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 with speaker the Former Prime Minister, Dr Péter Medgyessy. The title of his presentation: „Hungary today and possibly tomorrow”.

April 12

The Grandhouse International Club together with the Embassy of Ukraine in Hungary organised a fundraising event for the Ukrainian victims of the war in Ukraine. The event took place in the garden/terrace of the Ukrainian Embassy on Tuesday, April 12 at 4.00 pm. Ambassador of Ukraine, Ms. Liubov Nepop, gave a speech on the present state of affairs in Ukraine, followed by questions from the audience.

March 24

Grandhouse lunch in the Matild Palace with the hotel’s General Manager, Mr Emre Pasli, as our guest-speaker. Presentation and lunch to be a „creative journey”.

February 23

A Grandhouse Online Event with speaker: Ms Caroline de Gruyter, Dutch writer, correspondent and collumnist. The title of her presentation: „Habsburg lessons for today’s Europe”.

January 26

Grandhouse New Year’s Cocktail Party in the Academy Club.

November 26

Grandhouse lunch in the beautifully renovated Matild Hotel. Our speaker being Mr Dale András Martin, recently retired CEO of the Siemens Group in Hungary and presently President of EELISA, a consortium of 9 technical universities in seven European countries. The title of his presentation is: ‘Industry & Universities: what one can learn from a good example’.

October 30

Grandhouse Cocktail Party in the Károlyi Castle in Fót, by the courtesy of Count and Countess László Károlyi and the Károlyi Foundation. Mr Benedek Varga, former Director General of the Hungarian National Museum and since two months Director of the HNM Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine, will give a presentation on the replacement of French castle gardens by English style gardens in the 18th and 19th centuries.

September 24

We celebrate our first in-person event after the corona lock downs with a cocktail reception at the Hilton Budapest in their historical lounge and the ruins of the Dominican cloister. Mr Pál Kovács will give a short presentation about the history of the location. Cantor and chorister, Mr Barnabás Hegyi, will sing Gregorian chants.

July 28

Our speaker for this month is Dr Zoltán Pogátsa, a leading Hungarian economist, known for his unconventional economic policies, irrespective of political dogmas and for his courage to state and explain his theories. The title of his presentation: „Best possible economic policies for Hungary, presented by an independent, unconventional economist.”

June 24

The speaker for this month Online Meeting is: Mr János Mező, the Managing  Director of Greenpeace Hungary. The title of his presentation is: „Crises as opportunities: how to survive the 21th century?!”.

May 21

An online „Grandhouse Children’s Choral Festival” event with four different children’s choirs from different continents:

Hungarian Radio Childrens’ Choir                   Hungary
Star Light Choir                                                China
African Children’s Choir                                   Uganda
Children’s Choir of Toluca                                Mexico

The two presenters of the children choirs are:

• Mr Chris Daniels, retired symphony orchestra manager.
• Mr Soma Dinyés, music teacher and conductor of various orchestras.

We are planning to make this a yearly event with a growing number of children’s choirs taking part in real-life and online. The first event on May 21 with four choirs from different continents will be our pilot online project with dreams for annual large international musical events in the future.

The idea for this event is based on a wish to see Grandhouse make a contribution to a better world. We much depend on future generations to keep our planet alive and ourselves healthy. If we could bring children from many countries together in a musical manner, it may foster solidarity, harmony and understanding between them.

Registration: through Dr Albert Royaards at: Enable JavaScript to view protected content.

April 23

 „Tokaj Team Tasting” online events worldwide with wine-connoisseur, Mr Gergely Somogyi - https://expertise.tokajtoday.com/ , introducing the participants to the famous Hungarian Tokaj wine, „the King of Wines and the Wine of Kings”.

For this wine tasting following wines are offered:

In Hungary: Degenfeld Furmint-2019; Degenfeld Hárslevelű-2020; Degenfeld Muskat Blanc-2020 and Degenfeld Szamorodni-2017.

In Holland: Degenfeld Furmint dry -  2017; Degenfeld Hárslevelű - 2019; Degenfeld Muskat Blanc - 2019 and Degenfeld Szamarodni Édes - 2017. Dutch importer: www.tokajwijn.nl  

In America: Kvaszinger Estate Furmint 2016; Erzsébet Zafír Furmint-Hárslevelű 2018; Erzsébet “Luné” Muscat Blanc 2019; Erzsébet Szamorodni 2016            

March 17

A joint online event with DACOR in Washington DC and with two speakers: Ambassador Géza Jeszenszky from Grandhouse and Ambassador Ray Ewing from DACOR with Dr André Goodfriend as moderator. The subject of their presentations: a renewal of the Atlantic Relations. The title of the event is: “The U.S. and Europe: „The View from the Danube and Potomac”.

February 15

The speaker for our second Online Meeting this year will be: Dr Haroon Sheikh. The title of his presentation is: ‘Global affairs – outlook for 2021’. Introduction and moderator for Q. and A. session afterwards by the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Hungary, Mr René van Hell.

January 29

The speaker of our first Online Meeting in 2021 will be: Dr Tamás Borsics. The title of his presentation is: "COVID-19 vaccines: How they protect our body and challenge our minds".

December 11

The speaker for our seventh and last Video Presentation of the year will be: József Péter Martin, the Executive Director of Transparency International Hungary. The title of his presentation is: „Greasing or sanding the wheels?” The impact of corruption to the Hungarian economy and society in comparative perspective.

The subsequent Zoom Meeting will be held on Thursday, December 17 for discussing the questions raised in relation to the video presentation.

December 4

The sixth video presentation is being prepared by our former member, retired Ambassador Gajus Scheltema, with the subject: „The vision from a recently retired diplomat about the near future in America, the European Union and Hungary”.

A follow-up meeting through a Zoom platform on December 10 for discussing the questions raised in relation to the video presentation.

November 19

We have the pleasure to welcome our guest-speaker: Dr József Martin, Executive Director of Transparency International Hungary. The title of his presentation will be: „Greasing or sanding the wheels?” The impact of corruption to the Hungarian economy and society in comparativ perspective. The lunch will be held in the Ball Room of the Duna Palota. All possible precautionary "corona-proof" measures will be taken.

UNFORTUNATELY CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE CORONA VIRUS.

October 29

We have the pleasure to welcome our guest-speaker: Mr Nick Thorpe, a British journalist and documentary filmmaker who is the Central Europe Correspondent for BBC News. The title of his presentation will be: „The Ground Floor: migrants and refugees 2015 – 2020”. The lunch will be held in the Ball Room of the Duna Palota. All possible precautionary "corona-proof" measures will be taken.

September 30

First actual lunch with all possible precautionary "corona-proof" measures in Duna Palota, followed by the Annual General Meeting.

September 19

A Cocktail Party and Lectures will be held in the Károlyi Castle in Fót, by the courtesy of Count and Countess László Károlyi and the Károlyi Foundation. We will have two speakers:

• Professor Dr József Sisa, Scientific Advisor at the Institute of Art History, Research Centre for the Humanities, will focus on the country houses of the Károlyi family.
• Mr Benedek Varga, Director General of the Hungarian National Museum, will concentrate on the replacement of French castle gardens by English style gardens in the 18th and 19th centuries.

UNFORTUNATELY CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE CORONA VIRUS.

July 29

The fifth Grandhouse online meeting will focus on Hungarians living abroad, starting with the about 50.000 Hungarians based in Holland. Live interviews with several Hungarians will be made in Holland to discuss the three main questions:

1. why did they leave Hungary and selected the Netherlands to make a living?
2. are they happy in the Netherlands? Were expectations fulfilled? What are the pros and what the contras?
3. any possibility to permanently return to Hungary and make use of their newly acquired knowledge, experiences and contacts?

June 17

The fourth Grandhouse online meeting was held with Mrs Klára Dobrev, one of the Vice- Presidents of the European Parliament (and wife of former Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány). The subject of her presentation and of our Q & A afterwards will be: “Future of Europe”.

May 14

Our third Grandhouse online meeting with Mr Marc Dillard, Chargé d'Affaires at the American Embassy. Subject will be: “Personal reflections on the pandemic’s effect on society and the economy”.

April 23

Our second Grandhouse online meeting with three speakers:

1. our member, Ambassador René van Hell, with the subject: „Personal views on possible social and economic changes in the Netherlands when the corona virus is behind us”.
2. our member, Jan Zweegman and our guest, Dr Tamás Borsics, biologist and researcher will highlight some interesting aspects of the corona virus.

April 2

We had our first Grandhouse online meeting with following guest-speakers:

1. our member, Dr Zsolt Kálbori with the subject: „The importance of staying active in this corona period to stimulate the body, its chemicals and the immune system”.
2. our guest, Dr György Harmat, retired medical doctor and former Director of the Heim Pál Children Hospital. Subject of his presentation: „present corona situation in Hungary”.

April 14

We have the pleasure to welcome our guest-speaker: Mr Dale András Martin, CEO of Siemens Hungary. UNFORTUNATELY CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE CORONA VIRUS.

March 18

We have the pleasure to welcome our guest-speaker: Dr József Martin, Executive Director of Transparency International Hungary. The title of his presentation will be: „Greasing or sanding the wheels?” The impact of corruption to the economy and society. The lunch will be held in the Gundel Restaurant, Queen Elisabeth Ballroom. UNFORTUNATELY CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE CORONA VIRUS.

March 16

Grandhouse members and their guests are invited by the Mexican Ambassador, Mr. David Nájera Rivas, for a concert of the Budapest Concerto Symphony Orchestra, followed by a Mexican reception/cocktails at the residence of the ambassador at 6.00 pm. UNFORTUNATELY CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE CORONA VIRUS.

February 17

We have the pleasure to welcome our guest-speaker: Mr. Zsolt Zólyomi, the expert perfumer of Hungary. The title of his presentation will be: "The human sense of smell is far more powerful than generally believed". The lunch will be held in the Gundel Restaurant, Queen Elisabeth Ballroom.

January 30

We have the pleasure to welcome as our guest-speaker: H.E. Madame Liubov Nepop, ambassador of Ukraine. 

The title of her presentation will be: "From a Ukrainian point of view". The presentation will be held in the Ukrán Udvar Étterem, the only Ukrainian restaurant in Budapest.

November 18

We have the pleasure to welcome as our guest-speaker Mr Ferenc András Kalmár, Ministerial Commissioner Responsible for the Development of the Neighbourhood Policy of Hungary. The subject of his presentation is: „National minorities in Europe. The Hungarian approach”.

October 24

We have the pleasure to welcome as our guest-speaker the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Géza Jeszenszky. The subject of his presentation is: „Hungary’s Lost Friends and Lost Peace Treaties”.

September 26

We have the pleasure to welcome as our guest-speaker the new Minister of Justice, Dr Judit Varga. The subject of the presentation is: “Rule of Law mechanism and proposals in the EU. How to keep the eye on the ball?”

August 14

An evening dinner in the Gundel with a concert afterwards (Gershwin songs).

July 19

We will have the pleasure to welcome as our guest-speaker Dr Orsolya Pacsay-Tomassich, the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary and responsible for Hungarian Diplomatic Academy and the Stipendium Hungaricum Program. The subject of the presentation is: „Hungary Helps - a special scholarship program : Stipendium Hungaricum”. 

June 26

We will have the pleasure to welcome as guest-speaker Mr David Kostelancik, Deputy Head of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the United States. The title of his  presentation is: „Assessments of the Present American-Hungarian Relationship”.

May 21

We will have the pleasure to welcome as guest-speaker H.E. Ms. Kuni Sato, Ambassador of Japan. The title of her  presentation is: „A Japanese Samurai meets Kossúth Lajos: 150 years of Japan-Hungary Relations”. 

April 30

We will have the pleasure to welcome our speaker from Holland, dr Maarten Aalders, who will interupt his holidays in Hungary for a causerie at our Grandhouse lunch. Dr Aalders is a historian with a focus on the history of the church in the Netherlands.
 
The title of his presentation is: „Children trains from Hungary to Holland after first world war”. A story of Dutch hospitality to help about 28.000 Hungarian children. Much of this beautiful support in tragic circumstances has been forgotten and therefore a booklet has been written (in Dutch and Hungarian language) with dr. Aalders en dr. O. Réthelyi as writers, editors and compilers of the many stories from descendents of these children. A fascinating recount of humans helping each other.

April 17

We will have the pleasure to welcome our speaker from Holland, Mr Hans Luyckx, who is visiting Budapest for this very purpose only. Mr Luyckx is board member of IJsfontein, Europe's leading serious gaming company, committee member of Dutch Game Association (DGA) and Dutch Creative Industries (FCI).
The title of his presentation is: „The cultural origins of Dutch design and creativity”.

March 23 – for a good physical exercise, new knowledge and camaraderie

"Art Nouveau Walk” on Saturday, March 23 at 10.00 am

Grandhouse International Club has organized a three hours walk with a guide to admire some „Art Nouveau buildings” in Budapest. We start at 10.00 am from the Hungarian Institute of Geology at Stefánia út 14, 1143 Budapest.

March 14

We will have the pleasure to welcome our speaker, Dr Róbert Pintér, PhD in sociology, Head of Consumer Research at eNET Internet Research & Consulting Ltd. and assistant professor of Department of Information and Communication at the Corvinus University of Budapest.

The title of his presentation is: „Will robots take our jobs? Possible drastic social and economic consequences of artificial intelligence”.

February 27

Finals of the Grandhouse Chess Tournament in D8 Hotel. Peter Biczó and Paul Grocott agreed to a draw and became the Grandhouse co-grandmasters. Douglas Daniel in third place and Zsolt Bárczy in fourth.

Febr. 13

We will have the pleasure to welcome our speaker, Dr Attila Ősi, Head of Department of Paleontology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.

This time, we will have a very different topic to our previous ones. Dinosaurs.

The title of Dr Ősi's presentation is: „Discovery of Dinosaurs in Hungary”.

February 4

His Excellency, Mr Juraj Chmiel, Ambassador of the Czech Republic has invited members of Grandhouse and their guests for a „Friendship Celebration” between Grandhouse and the Embassy on Monday, February 4, 2019 at 4.00 pm at the Czech Embassy.

Program for the event as follows:

4.00 pm: concert in the theater of the Embassy with the Czech musicians Jan Vojtek, piano and Zuzana Kohoutova, opera singer.

4.30 pm: Ambassador Chmiel will guide us on a brief tour through the Embassy to show us some very interesting historic items.

5.00 pm: Drinks (Czech beer and wine) with some tidbits in the main salon of the Embassy.

5.00 pm – 6.00 pm: in small groups escorted to basement for visit to the new „Emanuel Zíma exhibition”, where Mr Milan Simko, Head of the Consular Department, will tell us the relevant details.

6.00 pm: End of the celebration, but otherwise continuation of the „Embassy Friendship”.
 

Club-lunches in 2016 will be held in the Academy Club at Széchenyi tér, in principle on the third Wednesday of each month, i.e.

Club-lunches in the Academy Club at Széchenyi tér in 2015

Club-lunches in the Academy Club at Széchenyi tér in 2014

Club-lunches in the Academy Club at Széchenyi tér in 2013