The creation of the Institute

In 1946, after having worked for ten years as a family pediatrician, Doctor Emmi Pikler was requested to create a nursery-home for infants and young children in Budapest. At that time, she was acquainted with the latest ideas about "hospitalism" (in particular the work of R. SPITZ), and the controversy which existed concerning the difficulties of caring for young children deprived of familial surroundings. In establishing the basis of the new institution, Emmi Pikler took a clear and fundamental stand. She accepted the fact that, if a young child cannot be raised by his mother, the maternal relationship cannot be reproduced. However, she was sure it should be possible, within a community- framework, to offer the child an experience of a completely different nature which still supports its full development. Taking as a foundation her observations during her work with families, and the psycho-pedagogic approach she developed there, she set up an educational process which would guarantee a healthy development for a child living in an institution. This educational process broke in a radical way with the practices current in the care-centers of that time. In addition, she developed and continually improved a practice in which the principles and objectives are clear and well defined, but its application remains flexible and able to be adapted to the changing needs of the children. This practice constitutes a system of care that is coherent and constant in its broad outline, but that is individualized and able to be the subject of a follow-up study in the unfolding of each child. Dr. Pikler was convinced of the importance of the effects of an environment of quality on the physical and psychical health of the children, and she obtained authorization to use a large house on Lóczy street, in a pleasant district called, "the Hill of the Roses." There was a large garden where the children would be able to enjoy the quiet and the open air. Although very large, the house was small to accommodate the many young children who would live there (seventy in 1960), and it has taken great ingenuity to ensure for each child sufficient space for living inside as well as outside.

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