Belgrade, 20 July, 2012 – Over 200 Hungarian students visited the white stone memorial in Belgrade’s Kalemegdan fortress consecrated to the 1456 military victory by Hungarian nobleman Janos Hunyadi and his Hungarian and Serbian troops over invading Ottoman Turks in the Belgrade castle.  

The students, the Hungarian ambassador Oszkar Nikowitz and for the city of Belgrade  vice president of the city’s assembly Zoran Alimpic laid wreaths on the memorial. After the ceremony Historian Péter Rókay retold the students the story of the battle 556 years ago. 

The victory at Nandorfehervar, as Belgrade was then called in Hungarian, was one of the most glorious milestones in the period of the Hungarian-Turkish wars . In 1456, between 4-21 July Hungarian and Serbian soldiers led by Mihaly Szilagyi were heroically defending the fortress greatly outnumbered by the troops of Turkish Sultan Mehmet II, who had conquered the mighty Constantinople just three years before. Hunyadi and Catholic priest Giovanni Capistrano came to the rescue of the besieged fortress and achieved a victory by July 22.  

The Nandorfehervar victory prevented further Ottoman advances towards Hungary for another 70 years. This struggle prompted Pope Callixtus III at the time to order the tolling of bells in all Catholic churches to remind all to the importance of fighting Turks and safeguarding Christianism. Tolling of bells at noon in all Catholic churches of the world recalls the victory at Nandorfehervar ever since.

In 2011, Hungarian Parliament declared 22 July a Memorial Day symbolizing   patriotism, self-sacrifice, European cooperation and defense of Christian faith. This year’s trip by the students, supported by Hungary’s Ministries of Defense, Human Resources and the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, is expected to create a tradition.