László Kósa, prominent Hungarian ethnographer and historian, dies at 85

László Kósa, a prominent Hungarian ethnographer, historian, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, passed away on September 25, 2026, at the age of 85.

A professor emeritus at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Kósa was a leading authority on the history of the Hungarian Reformed Church and 19th- and 20th-century Hungarian cultural history. His extensive research included studying peasant society and the relationship between church and society. He contributed significantly to the Hungarian Ethnographic Atlas and served as the head of the Department of Cultural History at ELTE for twenty years, from 1987 to 2007.

Kósa was a recipient of several prestigious honors, including the Széchenyi Prize in 2017 and the Gáspár Károli Prize in 2015. Throughout his career, he supervised approximately 150 theses and over two dozen doctoral dissertations, leaving a lasting impact on the academic community.