Two personalities of Transylvania’s Hungarian community were awarded by President Klaus Iohannis on January 15, Romania’s National Culture Day. According to the presidential decree, Iohannis has honored literary translator Enikő Szenkovics and civil engineer, monument restorer Bálint Szabó with the knightly rank of the Order of Cultural Merit, reported the maszol.ro news portal. Both are from Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Klausenburg).
Enikő Szenkovics was born in 1974, who worked on Romanian and German literary translations. She has been a thorough, attentive translator of Transylvanian German literature; thanks to her efforts, Hungarian readers can get a more comprehensive picture of the literary works of the German community. She has been previously granted the Hyeronymus award by the Hungarian Writers’ Association.
The 75-year-old civil engineer Bálint Szabó has been teaching Rehabilitation of Historical Supporting Structures at the Technical University of Kolozsvár since 1998; the subject is of significance in the management and restoration of cultural heritage sites. He has been a member of the National Association of Restorers of Historical Monuments since 1995 and president of the Association of Transylvanian Restorers of Historical Monuments since 1996. He is also founding president of the Tranyslvania Trust Foundation, which was registered in 1996. This organization’s main goal is to conserve and promote Transylvania’s rich and diverse building heritage. He is a member of the board of directors of the Romanian National Committee of ICOMOS as well and was awarded for his complex work with the so-called Károly Kós prize, which honors outstanding achievements in the field of town beautification.
Before finalizing the list of the awardees, the Presidential office consulted RMDSZ (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania). RMDSZ spokesperson Csilla Hegedüs informed maszol.ro that RMDSZ’s cultural department of the executive presidency had proposed four meritorious personalities for the stately acknowledgement: the above-mentioned Enikő Szenkovics, linguist professor Sándor N. Szilágyi, writer Péter Demény and literary translator Marius Tabacu.
Title image: President Klaus Iohannis and the personalities awarded on National Culture Day.
Source: presidency.ro
