During the visit, the Ambassador viewed our collection. With great interest, he looked through some of Otto von Habsburg’s correspondence with various Spanish notables, for example, the exchange of letters with Alberto Martin-Artajo, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, a predecessor of Ambassador Dastis. He was also pleased to see the series of photographs by the Hungarian-born Spanish photographer Juan Gyenes, which are kept at our Foundation. He mentioned that he has also in his library a book with photographs by Juan Gyenes illustrating the embassy buildings of the Kingdom of Spain (Embajadas de España y su historia. En fotografías de Juan Gyenes y textos de Alfonso de la Serna. Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1989).
The birthday commemoration (Otto Dinner), held in Budapest in November 2021, was also discussed with Ambassador Alfonso Dastis Quecedo, the guests of honour of which included former Minister Íñigo Méndez de Vigo and historian and journalist Ramón Pérez-Maura. We also indicated that the Otto von Habsburg Foundation is planning to organise a conference in autumn 2023, during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, for which we asked the Ambassador’s support. Alfonso Dastis Quecedo was delighted to hear this initiative and offered his help in preparing the event, so that our exhibition “Otto von Habsburg – Life and Heritage” could be presented in the Spanish capital in a fitting setting.
