17. June 2004.

On Thursday, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Mr Péter Medgyessy formally handed over the European Union giant vase, made by the Herend Porcelain Manufactory in the main building of the European Commission.

In the name of the president of the Republic, Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy presented the giant vase, made by Herend, to the president of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi. The vase will be kept in the so-called Brown Salon, next to Romano Prodi's office.

The immense vase is a characteristically Hungarian ornamental object. Its so-called noble embroiders embodies the treasury of patterns of various European peoples, a reference to our mutual cultural roots and common way of thinking.
The contours of the 25 European Union states can be found in the pattern, into which we have written a few lines from each nation's national anthem using their own style of writing.


Facts and figures about the vase:

Height: 205 cm
Diameter: 61,5 cm
Weight: 51 kg

Designer of the original form: Tibor Bruck

Designer of the décor:

Gyula Wéber
Boglárka Feketű
Edit Nácsa
Etelka Meixner
Zsuzsa Boldizsár

Colours employed: blue/gold (EU colours)

Vase crafted by:

István Búzás
Róbert Göncz
István Lázár
Ernő Szigethy
János Tóth
Szabolcs Vajda

Some words about the history of the vase:

The Herend pottery masters first produced the giant vase form in 1954 for what they then believed was the 125th anniversary of the manufactory.
The decoration on one side of the vase was an image of the Hungarian parliament, on the other a slogan in accordance with the spirit of that time. The vase form acquired its popular name as a result of this decoration: "The Parliament Vase."
This vase sat in parliament until the early 1960s, but it was transferred to the Museum of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory in Herend, where it can still be seen today.

The 2nd version owes its existence to the Sultan of Brunei, who when he saw the vase, ordered two similar ones to be made, one with an image of the Sultan's palace, the other with a picture of the principal mosque. Both of these vases currently stand in the Sultan's throne room.

The 3rd version is the so-called second parliament vase, which today stands in the upper-house day-room of the Hungarian parliament. The Manufactory presented it to the Hungarian people in 2000. Its decoration was the work of the Kossuth Prize winning artist Pál Gerzson and employs eight classical Herend patterns. Verses and quotations by Hungarian poets and writers can be read in between the patterns.

The 4th version was given as a present by Hungarian Parliament to the German Bundestag in 2002. On one side is an image of the Hungarian Parliament, on the other, a picture of the Bundestag.

The Manufactory has just completed the 5th version, to celebrate Hungary's formal accession to the European Union.
We devised the decoration on the vase using characteristic Hungarian ornamentation. The decoration actually derives from the so called noble embroidery of the 16th and 17th centuries, which graced the textiles of the Hungarian upper and lower nobility, as well as bourgeoisie. It featured on ornamental garments, textiles made for special occasions and household textiles as well.
The backbone to the motives is provided by Italian Renaissance ornamentation. The web of tendrils which fills in and apportions the vase surface gives a clarifying structure with motifs emphasising individual details. Principal motifs of flowers, such as pomegranates, tulips and carnations, sit gracefully on the dynamic and rhythmically undulating tendrils. The pomegranate has been a favoured ornamentation in Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Polish and English textiles since the 16th and 17th centuries. From the 17th century, the tulip has played a prominent role in Italian, Spanish and French decorative art.
During the planning, the decoration of a museum piece Herend porcelain service offered the starting point. This too was made from 1884 to 1896, employing a tulip pattern.


The special EU-products can be ordered here!