The ICOMOS Summer School, which this year was hosted by Hungary from 6-10 July 2025, in the framework of the 55th András Román Summer course on Monument Protection, was met with wide international interest.

The main theme of the Summer School was the monument and its environment, which was approached through the three typical groups of built heritage in Hungary, the use of manor houses, vernacular architectural heritage and the situation of industrial heritage, in combination with the issue of social conflicts.

Students and lecturers from the Ybl Miklós Ybl Faculty of Obuda University also participated in the event. On the third day of the five-day summer school, which was held in English, a study trip was organised to Hollókő and Ózd, and on the fourth day, a series of lectures were organised.

The participants of the Summer University were welcomed by the Dean of our Faculty, Prof. Dr. Anthony John Gall PhD. Riin Alatalu was the first speaker in the block hosted by Dr. habil. Viktória Sugár the Vice-Rector for Sustainability and Strategic Developments at Obuda University and Prof. Dr. Sonja Ifko. Alatalu as the Vice President of ICOMOS, Associate Professor of Cultural Heritage and Conservation at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Coordinator of the UNESCO Department of Heritage Studies, gave an introductory lecture on who, why and how we protect our monuments.

She was followed by Dr. Zsolt Virág, Managing Director of the Hungarian Castle Programme Nonprofit Ltd., on the restoration of castles and mansions in Hungary between 2005 and 2025.

Erika Erdélyi, architect, and Dr. László Diószegi, Kossuth Prize-winning historian-choreographer and director of the László Teleki Foundation, gave insights into their experiences and achievements of the Folk Architecture Programme, while Zoltán Erő, Chief Architect of Budapest, spoke about heritage protection in the Hungarian capital in the 20th century.

After the break, a presentation by Gergely Nagy, architect and President of the Hungarian National Committee of ICOMOS, described the work of the National Cultural Fund for Heritage. Participants then listened to a presentation by Miklós Rácz, architect, on mapping of the non-governmental heritage sector, focusing on the Central and Eastern European region between November 2023 and March 2025. The morning block was closed by the presentation of Emilia Zsuzsanna Kiss, architect, on the interior reconstruction of the Royal Palace of Buda.

A team of lecturers and students from the Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture also contributed to the success of the event with an exhibition of the faculty's student groups working on heritage conservation (UNI.CO.RE., I'5, NTDK and FEÖD).

In the afternoon workshop teams of students of the Industrial Heritage Workshop (I'5) (Zsombor Rácz, architect III, Tímea Nagy, architect III, Réka Tóth, architect III, Veronika Görgényi, architect IV, Emese Katinka Juhász, PhD student, Gergely Péterffy, architect III) participated in large numbers and professionally successfully.

The camp ended on the fifth day with the presentation of the results of the workshops, a graduation ceremony and a closing reception.

The summer school was organized by the ICOMOS Hungarian National Committee Association in cooperation with the ICOMOS University Forum, ICOMOS Austrian National Committee, ICOMOS Slovenian National Committee and Széchenyi István University, the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Óbuda, the Faculty of Architecture of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, the University of Tokaj-Hegyalja, the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics of the University of Pécs and the Hungarian Renaissance Foundation.