"The Office of the Prime Minister is preparing a list of items in Hungarian museums that are inarguably not the property of the state so that they may be returned to their rightful owners", announced János Lázár on Tuesday in Keszthely, where he presented 86 works of art that had until now been stored in museums to the heirs of the Sigray family.

The Minister of State heading the Prime Minister's Office told the press that in accordance with the Prime Minister's decision, a Secretariat for Deposited Cultural Property would begin operating within the Office of the Prime Minister on 1 May, with the task of reviewing property entrusted to the state between the start of World War II and the transition from communism.

To facilitate this, the Minister for Culture will request that the large national institutions - the Hungarian National Museum, the Museum of Fine Art, the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Applied Art - urgently prepare a registry of works of art that were deposited with and entrusted to the Hungarian State for the purposes of safekeeping and not with a view to their being confiscated.

The registry, based on which works of art will be identifiable, will be made public and internationally available by the Secretariat within the following twelve months, and will give heirs the opportunity to request the return of works of art by the State of Hungary. János Lázár said this was an ambitious task because "museums are full of objects that are not the property of the State of Hungary", and which were appropriated by museums under unclear circumstances or through the bad intentions of the Hungarian State. He added: the Government knows that this issue divides museologists, but we would like Keszthely to serve as an example of a possible solution.

A tourism-related development project, classified as especially important, has begun on the Festetics Castle with a budget of HUF 1.8 billion, and the state castle renovation programme, within the framework of which Fertőd Castle has already been renovated, is expected to continue in Keszthely.

János Lázás indicated that the Government would like only works of art of cleared origin to be placed in these buildings, and so as a first step, objects belonging to the Festetics family would be returned to Keszthely from the Museum of Applied Art.

At the Helikon Castle Museum and in the presence of the heirs of the Sigray family and their legal counsel, the Minister of State heading the Prime Minister's Office also spoke of the fact that it is the responsibility of the State of Hungary and its representative to provide an apology "in view of the fact that the Sigray family have been the object of unfair and serious discrimination on the part of Hungarian governments and the State of Hungary over the past 22 years with regard to the returning of  works of art of indisputable legal status".

He also reminded those present that Hungary had "committed a serious crime" against its own citizens during the Second World War, and especially following 19 March 1944 was incapable of protecting the property with which it had been entrusted. In his words, "we owe all individuals and families an apology who entrusted their property to the Hungarian State in the hope that the state would safeguard those".

Minister of State for Culture of the Ministry of Human Resources János Halász said that he had known of the long-standing problems experienced by the Sigray family since 2002, and they had decided on the solution with the Director of the National Asset Management Company (MNV) on 28 February, his first day as Minister of State. He announced, the Government "has given back the honour of culture and as part of this we are giving back cultural property that does not belong to the state to its rightful owners". Attention must also be paid to those institutions that are involved in the "restitution", meaning that the returned works of art must be replaced.

Director of MNV Péter Márton reminded those present that the procedure relating to the returning of the Sigray inheritance took over ten years. In this case is has now been declared that 86 works of art "do not legally belong to the State of Hungary".

Pieces from the collection that Antal Sigray deposited found their way to six Hungarian museums, of which three are now returning them. The Museum of Applied Art, the Hungarian National Museum and the Helikon Castle Museum have had 200 objects in safekeeping until now, and in view of the 2004-2005 ministerial decisions even took legal action to ensure that these works of art remained in state hands. The heirs launched test cases regarding individual pieces, during which the court ruled against the state.

In representation of the heirs, Dénes Osztroluczky welcomed the political decision to return works of art and expressed his joy at the fact that this was not simply a gesture towards the family, but the first stage of a long process.

János Lázár symbolically presented the heirs with a Chinese vase, after which they viewed the pieces of furniture and decorative objects that had been placed in the various rooms of the castle, and which had been returned to their rightful owners, together. Director of the Castle Museum Róbert Pálinkás also stated that in accordance with the agreement that had been come to with the family, several pieces of furniture would remain in the custody of the Museum until the end of the holiday season, and no solution has been found as yet for their replacement.

(Prime Minister's Office)