A painting (also) immortalises Marco Rossi, the new Hungarian citizen

A portrait of the football captain Marco Rossi, who was granted Hungarian citizenship on Tuesday, has been added to the Hungarikon exhibition at the Fekete Haus in Szeged, where the work of painter László Ördögh Diabolus was unveiled on Friday. The football coach offered his whistle for the painting. László Ördögh's portrait Veni Vidi Vi(n)ci is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's Battle of Anghiari and was created using artificial intelligence.

Foto:Gáll András

The portrait of the national team captain is flanked by relics of the Golden Team members; Puskás' ball-legged shoes, Grosics' and Zakariás' jerseys, Czibor's relics and the 6-3 whistle. Marco Rossi said he had not expected his portrait to be presented with the Golden Team members. The members of the legendary team - especially Ferenc Puskás - were idols and role models, and still are today. He feels this recognition is too much, perhaps not even deserved.

Fotó: Gáll András

Ottó Fogas, director of the Ferenc Móra Museum, said that the Hungarikon exhibition, presenting the collection of Tamás Kárpáti, is very popular among the people of Szeged, with more than 7,000 visitors since its opening in May. Speaking of the Móra Ferenc Museum, on Thursday afternoon Rossi and his wife visited the fantastic exhibition of fifty soldiers of the Chinese clay army (and their faithful replicas), guided by the director.

Each of the works on display is based on an object of daily use, made special by the fact that each is associated with a famous person. They have been made into works of art by contemporary artists and have thus become Hungaricons," the museologist said.

In the local history exhibition space of the Ferenc Móra Museum, you can see, among other things, Count Széchenyi's glass bowl, Ernő Rubik's cube, György Cziffra's music book, Tamás Cseh's tape recorder, and Ruttkai's and Latinovits' pottery angels, Dezső Garas's Minarik hat, Dezső Tandori's hat, István Örkény's pocket watch, Amerigo Tot's patterned wood, Jenő Barcsay's brush, Balázs Taróczy's tennis racket, Laci Papp's boxing gloves, and the sculptures and installations made from them.

On the evening before the portrait unveiling, he spoke with Marco Rossi's biographer, András Gáll, senior columnist at Index, at the Napfény Műteremház's series on Hungarian icons. After the unveiling on Friday, he was invited by László Kiss-Rigó, Bishop of Szeged-Czanád, the founder of the Grosics Academy, to visit the facilities of the Szent Gellért Forum.
According to the Móra Museum's summary, following Bertalan Bicskei's public meeting in Szeged in 2001, Marco Rossi was the first incumbent football captain to visit Szeged in almost a quarter of a century.

One of the most memorable visits to Szeged was when Gustáv Sebes arrived with the legendary Golden Team in 1955. Lajos Baróti, Rudolf Illovszky, Kálmán Mészöly and György Mezey were among the distinguished national captains of the past decades to have visited Szeged.
(MTI/Index)