Background history

The idea for the Club of Budapest goes back to various discussions between Aurelio Peccei, the founder and first president of the Club of Rome and Ervin Laszlo, a member of this club and current president of the Club of Budapest.

Starting in 1988, 10 years after the first meetings of the Club of Rome were held in Rome, Aurelio Peccei and Ervin Laszlo met on several occasions to discuss the necessity to involve some of the most famous and most creative minds of our time in the discussion that the Club of Rome had entitled, "The problems of the world." Peccei pointed out the fact that the Club of Rome had brought together very influential members of scientific, political, and business circles and that, for this reason, it would be necessary to create an affiliated club designed to balance the rational thought in this field with the intuitive aspect provided by creativity in the arts, in literature, and in spirituality.

As Ervin Laszlo had originally come from an artistic background, having began his professional career as a concert pianist, Peccei asked him whether he could create a club of artists and writers who would work in conjunction with the members of the Club of Rome.

As the host of the World Hungarian Conference, Ervin Laszlo proposed that such a club could be set up in Budapest. The Hungarian authorities responded with enthusiasm and efficiency: The Hungarian Cultural Foundation was created which, in turn, gave birth to the Club of Budapest.

Officially founded in November, 1993, the Club of Budapest set out to do its task by calling upon artists, writers, men and women from spiritual fields, to join forces to help spread a new light on the problems and opportunities facing humanity today and in the near future.