Hungarian women architects in the UIFA

The International Union of Women Architects (L’Union Internationale des Femmes Architectes, UIFA) was founded in Paris in 1963 “to make known and to promote the Woman Architect,” to foster contact and exchange, and to create a network of women architects. ¹ Moreover, a Hungarian participant—Éva Spiró—not only attended the 1st Congress, she was also elected to serve as one of the organization’s five vice-presidents. Between 1963 and 1990, when the political system in Eastern Europe changed, the UIFA organized eight congresses, which—with one exception—included participants from Hungary. Keeping the limited opportunities to travel for citizens of socialist countries during the Cold War in mind, attendance at an international conference would not have been possible without professional assistance and official permission. Furthermore, while the official architectural journals of the Union of Hungarian Architects exhaustively documented the contacts to Western professional organizations, almost no references to the Hungarian participation in the UIFA are found in these forums.