Prime Minister Peter Magyar has taken power and laid bare his predecessor's luxurious lifestyle. Many Hungarians are keen to see Magyar chart a new political course.
The lavish lifestyles of autocrats and dictators are often only exposed after their downfall. The cases of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych serve as particularly striking examples. Footage of Ceausescu's extravagantly gold-plated bathroom has etched itself in Romania's collective memory.
Now, Hungary's ousted leader Viktor Orban and his allies are also having their decadence exposed. On Monday, Prime Minister Peter Magyar published videos from Orban's official Buda Castle residence and two ministries, revealing gigantic, luxuriously furnished rooms throughout.
But that's not all. Orban, who likes to talk about how he grew up in a village and his humble roots, had decorated his official residence with almost 100 valuable paintings from the Hungarian National Gallery. While touring the residence, Prime Minister Magyar said it reminded him the Ceausescu era.
One of these revelatory videos has garnered as many as eight million views in a single day — no small feat given that Hungary's population is just under ten million.
