What to see at the Budapest Museum Hungary
Among the incredible displays and exhibitions at the Budapest Museum, Hungary, there are some dramatically displayed pieces of armour and a heavy sword given to King Wenceslas by Pope Julius II. The child's suit of armour belong¬ing to the infant Louis II is an impressive example of craftsmanship in metal, while some miniature pistols in a case nearby are reputed to have belonged to Jan Sobieski during the relief of the siege of Vienna in the same room is a set of magnificent stalls taken from the ruined church of Nyirbitor and a funerary monument dated 1635 depicting 'a knight who led a pious life during tumultuous times'. Beyond this is the bright Maria Theresa room, with the dashing uniform her son wore as a child in 1745.
The Biedermeier Room
The Biedermeier room is full of curiosities, such as a funereal-black obelisked piano and a fine painting of the opening of the magnificent Chain Bridge in the 1840S The Clark brothers, who were the engineers responsible for the bridge, strike a suitably Scottish note of sobriety in their civilian dress against the glitter of the brightly uniformed Hungarians.Right of the museum is Brody Sindor lit, a road of peculiarly Pestian charms. NO.4 has some fine frescoes dating from the end of the nine¬teenth century on the facade, while No. 6 has an impressively dark entrance hall. But it is No. 14 which reflects best the architecture of a nineteenth-century capital anxious to employ up-to-date materials. Here in the courtyard is a dramatic space boasting three classical orders beautifully rendered in iron.
Further along the road, No. 30 contains the Hary Borozo tavern, an unpretentious restaurant with reasonable food and good wine. Until a year ago, this establishment boasted the services of a gipsy violinist of the old school, with a penetrating gaze and superb musicianship. There were no tawdry costumes or bullying for requests and tips, just a discreet bow followed by the slow raising of his professorial drawn features. But even without him, this is a comfortable haunt.
Turning left along Puskin ut, there are more interesting houses. To the left of Rakoczi ut, a large boulevard, is the Muzeum korut. At the corner here is the old-fashioned Hotel Astoria with a pleasant cafe, while near it at Muzeum korut 13 is another of the city's many fine second-hand bookshops. In the nineteenth century, Budapest was a well-known centre of the book-trade in Central Europe and it still boasts many establishments which have valuable German and English books for a fraction of what they would cost in the west.
From the Astoria, the Tanacs korut passes the brick synagogue, designed partly by the distinguished Vienna architect Otto Wagner in the 1860s. In appearance, it is not unlike the equally picturesque brick Greek Orthodox church in Vienna's Fleischmarkt.
Left down the Barczy ut is the large Baroque Town Hall, originally a hospital for army invalids and designed in the late eighteenth century in a rather barrack-like style by A. E. Martinelli. Further along the Tanacs ut are two rather more interesting buildings.
The first is the Lutheran church on Deak ter, a Neo-Classical building of simple proportions designed by Mihaly Pollack between 1799 and 1809.
St Stephens Cathedral Budapest
The second is the much more overpowering St Stephen's cathedral, which rises above along the Bajcsy Zsilinszky ut, an imposing Neo-¬Renaissance structure, heavy and not particularly beautiful. Its size it has a floor area of 5,000 square metres makes it one of the largest ecclesiastical buildings in Eastern Europe, but one feels that the Hun¬garians have never really taken to it. It was designed by two distinguished Hungarian architects, Ybl and Hild, in the middle of the last century, but its construction took over fifty years, giving the entire edifice a rather unhappy history. Few buildings of such size offer quite as great a sense of anti-climax as the interior, part of which is painted in nursery colours.
Withdrawing up along the great avenue unpronounceably called Nepkoztarsasag, there is a chance to admire a more successful example of Ybl's work in the Opera, which was restored in 1984 to all its mag¬nificent former glory. Unlike the Vienna State Opera, which was restored in the fifties, when it seemed fashionable to give such an interior an up-to-date appearance, the Budapest house has been ren¬ovated true to its original style, with mirrors, varnished wood and a buffet full of intimate alcoves to sit in. At present tickets are difficult to obtain, so great is the Magyar's passion for opera.
Further up the avenue from the Opera is the most renowned cafe in the country, the Cafe/Restaurant Hungaria, a fabulous art-nouveau creation originally called the Cafe New York, a name which, in view of its brashness, would still suit it. Lunch is often excellent here, but dinner, where quite often the cuisine seems to take second place to an elaborate cabaret, can be disappointing. A simple coffee and cake is perhaps the easiest way of enjoying these novel surroundings, which evoke an atmosphere faintly reminiscent of that once enjoyed in London's Cafe Royal.
From the crossroads of the avenue with the square named November 7 ter, the underground line will take us to Hosok ter and the city park. The underground itself is of some interest, being the oldest on the continent. The line leading to the park from Vorosmarty ter, our initial point of departure, still contains its original mid-nineteenth-century detailing, but most of the other lines have more recent origins and are modelled on the flashy abstract Russian example.
Heroes Square Budapest
Hosok, or Heroes Square, is dominated by the Museum of Fine Arts to the north and the equally Neo-Classical Artists' House on the southern side. Between these distinguished classical structures rises the Millenary Monument, erected at the turn of the century to commemorate the Kingdom of Hungary's survival into the new century, and the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar conquest. Many others were built throughout Hungary's part of the empire, and though those which would now rest on Czech or Slovak soil have been demolished, there are several still to be found in Hungary.
Designed by Albert Schickedanz in 1896, its colonnade is an elegant backdrop for an extravagant equestrian statue of Prince Arpad, the first leader of the Magyar tribes who led them in their conquest of the flat plain beyond the Carpathians. It was his great-grandson Stephen who was canonized later for introducing the country to Christianity. In front of Arpad stand some seven chieftains of the Magyar tribes who swore to follow him, while on both sides of this tableau stand various other figures of historical importance in Magyar history. A more modera monument commemorating Hungarian dead in the last two wars stands in the middle of the square.
The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest
All this can be taken in at a glance. What is perhaps important now is to visit the Museum of Fine Arts. The gallery is well-stocked with Italian Renaissance paintings, although there is nothing here to compare with the best works in the Kunst¬historisches in Vienna. None the less, admirers of Raphael should not miss the Esterhazy Madonna or his portrait of a young man. There is also a fine portrait of Caterina Cornaro by Bellini and a large portrait of St James by Tiepolo as well as several Titians and Tintorettos. Those who are interested in the Dutch school will enjoy the Cruci¬fixion by Memling or Van Dyck's double portrait. One room, indicative of the sympathy felt by the Hungarians towards the British, contains a fine series of portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough. These and a smaller collection in Transylvania would appear to rep¬resent the only serious interest Central Europe felt for the work of British painters.
Modern painting is modestly represented by the works of Monet, Renoir and Cezanne, while a modern sculpture gallery contains some interesting work of the great Jugoslav sculptor Mestrovic. Several other rooms are devoted to classical and Renaissance sculpture, and the drawings collection is particularly rich in Renaissance work.
If refreshment is needed before visiting the Artists' Exhibition Hall on the opposite side of the square, the Restaurant Gundel behind the gallery on the edge of the park will offer a hearty lunch, a rather formally served dinner or the Hungarian equivalent of high tea: chocolate, nut and cream pancakes, washed down with a bottle of sweet medicinal Tokay. The pancakes are called 'palacsinta' ('Palatschinken') and make a fitting climax to any Hungarian dinner if they have not already been eaten earlier in the day.
At the Artists' Hall there are usually exhibitions of Hungarian con-temporary art or the ubiquitous travelling exhibition of English water-colours arranged by the British Council. The park which stretches away from here is pleasant to stroll in. There are several imposing bathing establishments constructed in the grand style fashionable in the early years of this century, but the most interesting building is a sham Transylvanian castle, a perpetual reminder to the Hungarians of their lost province, which though never exclusively popula¬ted by Magyars is none the less their spiritual homeland and the birthplace of their finest romantic poet, Petofi. This picturesque folly, with its grand courtyards, now houses an agricultural museum which contains a wide range of implements formerly used on the large Magyar estates.
As the building is itself of such architectural interest, a half-hour spent wandering between the nineteenth-century forerunners of the combine harvester and other farming memorabilia is quite rewarding.
The Transport Museum in Budapest
Some fifteen minutes' stroll across the park is the less pretentious Transport Museum, with Hungary's contribution to the development of rail, road, sea and air transport.
A taxi hailed by the quaintly dressed doorman of the Gundel restaurant will take us most comfortably and easily to the last great museum in Pest, the Museum of Applied Arts on the Olloi ut,a long boulevard to the south. Unfortunately situated for any of the traditional sights of the city, the museum is however an essential part of any itinerary which attempts to capture the best of Hungarian art.
As in most places in Central Europe, the fashion for art-nouveau ran riot in the years before the end of the last century. The Applied Arts Museum, designed by the highly gifted but eccentric Odon Lechner in the 1890s, attempts a peculiarly Hungarian brand of this style, completely different from anything happening at the same time in Vienna, or for that matter in Paris or Brussels. Its pyrogranite roof tiles and extravagant use of terra cotta, glazed in the manner of English arts and crafts arch¬itects such as Halsey Ricardo, distinguish the building immediately. The white interior, relying for effect on the curved lines which seem essential to Lechner's style, is the perfect setting for the wide range of Jugendstil objects which at the time of writing are being installed in the recently restored interior.
From O1l6i lit, a metro line runs to Kalvin ter and thence to the Parliament, which is the last building of significance to be examined in Pest before crossing the Danube to explore Buda. The tube station to aim for is Kossuth Lajos ter, named after the Hungarian patriot of the 1848 revolution, Kossuth, whose exploits so impressed the British public that he enjoyed a comfortable exile for some months on the fringes of Holland Park.
The Biedermeier Room
The Biedermeier room is full of curiosities, such as a funereal-black obelisked piano and a fine painting of the opening of the magnificent Chain Bridge in the 1840S The Clark brothers, who were the engineers responsible for the bridge, strike a suitably Scottish note of sobriety in their civilian dress against the glitter of the brightly uniformed Hungarians.Right of the museum is Brody Sindor lit, a road of peculiarly Pestian charms. NO.4 has some fine frescoes dating from the end of the nine¬teenth century on the facade, while No. 6 has an impressively dark entrance hall. But it is No. 14 which reflects best the architecture of a nineteenth-century capital anxious to employ up-to-date materials. Here in the courtyard is a dramatic space boasting three classical orders beautifully rendered in iron.
Further along the road, No. 30 contains the Hary Borozo tavern, an unpretentious restaurant with reasonable food and good wine. Until a year ago, this establishment boasted the services of a gipsy violinist of the old school, with a penetrating gaze and superb musicianship. There were no tawdry costumes or bullying for requests and tips, just a discreet bow followed by the slow raising of his professorial drawn features. But even without him, this is a comfortable haunt.
Turning left along Puskin ut, there are more interesting houses. To the left of Rakoczi ut, a large boulevard, is the Muzeum korut. At the corner here is the old-fashioned Hotel Astoria with a pleasant cafe, while near it at Muzeum korut 13 is another of the city's many fine second-hand bookshops. In the nineteenth century, Budapest was a well-known centre of the book-trade in Central Europe and it still boasts many establishments which have valuable German and English books for a fraction of what they would cost in the west.
From the Astoria, the Tanacs korut passes the brick synagogue, designed partly by the distinguished Vienna architect Otto Wagner in the 1860s. In appearance, it is not unlike the equally picturesque brick Greek Orthodox church in Vienna's Fleischmarkt.
Left down the Barczy ut is the large Baroque Town Hall, originally a hospital for army invalids and designed in the late eighteenth century in a rather barrack-like style by A. E. Martinelli. Further along the Tanacs ut are two rather more interesting buildings.
The first is the Lutheran church on Deak ter, a Neo-Classical building of simple proportions designed by Mihaly Pollack between 1799 and 1809.
St Stephens Cathedral Budapest
The second is the much more overpowering St Stephen's cathedral, which rises above along the Bajcsy Zsilinszky ut, an imposing Neo-¬Renaissance structure, heavy and not particularly beautiful. Its size it has a floor area of 5,000 square metres makes it one of the largest ecclesiastical buildings in Eastern Europe, but one feels that the Hun¬garians have never really taken to it. It was designed by two distinguished Hungarian architects, Ybl and Hild, in the middle of the last century, but its construction took over fifty years, giving the entire edifice a rather unhappy history. Few buildings of such size offer quite as great a sense of anti-climax as the interior, part of which is painted in nursery colours.
Withdrawing up along the great avenue unpronounceably called Nepkoztarsasag, there is a chance to admire a more successful example of Ybl's work in the Opera, which was restored in 1984 to all its mag¬nificent former glory. Unlike the Vienna State Opera, which was restored in the fifties, when it seemed fashionable to give such an interior an up-to-date appearance, the Budapest house has been ren¬ovated true to its original style, with mirrors, varnished wood and a buffet full of intimate alcoves to sit in. At present tickets are difficult to obtain, so great is the Magyar's passion for opera.
Further up the avenue from the Opera is the most renowned cafe in the country, the Cafe/Restaurant Hungaria, a fabulous art-nouveau creation originally called the Cafe New York, a name which, in view of its brashness, would still suit it. Lunch is often excellent here, but dinner, where quite often the cuisine seems to take second place to an elaborate cabaret, can be disappointing. A simple coffee and cake is perhaps the easiest way of enjoying these novel surroundings, which evoke an atmosphere faintly reminiscent of that once enjoyed in London's Cafe Royal.
From the crossroads of the avenue with the square named November 7 ter, the underground line will take us to Hosok ter and the city park. The underground itself is of some interest, being the oldest on the continent. The line leading to the park from Vorosmarty ter, our initial point of departure, still contains its original mid-nineteenth-century detailing, but most of the other lines have more recent origins and are modelled on the flashy abstract Russian example.
Heroes Square Budapest
Hosok, or Heroes Square, is dominated by the Museum of Fine Arts to the north and the equally Neo-Classical Artists' House on the southern side. Between these distinguished classical structures rises the Millenary Monument, erected at the turn of the century to commemorate the Kingdom of Hungary's survival into the new century, and the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar conquest. Many others were built throughout Hungary's part of the empire, and though those which would now rest on Czech or Slovak soil have been demolished, there are several still to be found in Hungary.
Designed by Albert Schickedanz in 1896, its colonnade is an elegant backdrop for an extravagant equestrian statue of Prince Arpad, the first leader of the Magyar tribes who led them in their conquest of the flat plain beyond the Carpathians. It was his great-grandson Stephen who was canonized later for introducing the country to Christianity. In front of Arpad stand some seven chieftains of the Magyar tribes who swore to follow him, while on both sides of this tableau stand various other figures of historical importance in Magyar history. A more modera monument commemorating Hungarian dead in the last two wars stands in the middle of the square.
The Museum of Fine Arts Budapest
All this can be taken in at a glance. What is perhaps important now is to visit the Museum of Fine Arts. The gallery is well-stocked with Italian Renaissance paintings, although there is nothing here to compare with the best works in the Kunst¬historisches in Vienna. None the less, admirers of Raphael should not miss the Esterhazy Madonna or his portrait of a young man. There is also a fine portrait of Caterina Cornaro by Bellini and a large portrait of St James by Tiepolo as well as several Titians and Tintorettos. Those who are interested in the Dutch school will enjoy the Cruci¬fixion by Memling or Van Dyck's double portrait. One room, indicative of the sympathy felt by the Hungarians towards the British, contains a fine series of portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough. These and a smaller collection in Transylvania would appear to rep¬resent the only serious interest Central Europe felt for the work of British painters.
Modern painting is modestly represented by the works of Monet, Renoir and Cezanne, while a modern sculpture gallery contains some interesting work of the great Jugoslav sculptor Mestrovic. Several other rooms are devoted to classical and Renaissance sculpture, and the drawings collection is particularly rich in Renaissance work.
If refreshment is needed before visiting the Artists' Exhibition Hall on the opposite side of the square, the Restaurant Gundel behind the gallery on the edge of the park will offer a hearty lunch, a rather formally served dinner or the Hungarian equivalent of high tea: chocolate, nut and cream pancakes, washed down with a bottle of sweet medicinal Tokay. The pancakes are called 'palacsinta' ('Palatschinken') and make a fitting climax to any Hungarian dinner if they have not already been eaten earlier in the day.
At the Artists' Hall there are usually exhibitions of Hungarian con-temporary art or the ubiquitous travelling exhibition of English water-colours arranged by the British Council. The park which stretches away from here is pleasant to stroll in. There are several imposing bathing establishments constructed in the grand style fashionable in the early years of this century, but the most interesting building is a sham Transylvanian castle, a perpetual reminder to the Hungarians of their lost province, which though never exclusively popula¬ted by Magyars is none the less their spiritual homeland and the birthplace of their finest romantic poet, Petofi. This picturesque folly, with its grand courtyards, now houses an agricultural museum which contains a wide range of implements formerly used on the large Magyar estates.
As the building is itself of such architectural interest, a half-hour spent wandering between the nineteenth-century forerunners of the combine harvester and other farming memorabilia is quite rewarding.
The Transport Museum in Budapest
Some fifteen minutes' stroll across the park is the less pretentious Transport Museum, with Hungary's contribution to the development of rail, road, sea and air transport.
A taxi hailed by the quaintly dressed doorman of the Gundel restaurant will take us most comfortably and easily to the last great museum in Pest, the Museum of Applied Arts on the Olloi ut,a long boulevard to the south. Unfortunately situated for any of the traditional sights of the city, the museum is however an essential part of any itinerary which attempts to capture the best of Hungarian art.
As in most places in Central Europe, the fashion for art-nouveau ran riot in the years before the end of the last century. The Applied Arts Museum, designed by the highly gifted but eccentric Odon Lechner in the 1890s, attempts a peculiarly Hungarian brand of this style, completely different from anything happening at the same time in Vienna, or for that matter in Paris or Brussels. Its pyrogranite roof tiles and extravagant use of terra cotta, glazed in the manner of English arts and crafts arch¬itects such as Halsey Ricardo, distinguish the building immediately. The white interior, relying for effect on the curved lines which seem essential to Lechner's style, is the perfect setting for the wide range of Jugendstil objects which at the time of writing are being installed in the recently restored interior.
From O1l6i lit, a metro line runs to Kalvin ter and thence to the Parliament, which is the last building of significance to be examined in Pest before crossing the Danube to explore Buda. The tube station to aim for is Kossuth Lajos ter, named after the Hungarian patriot of the 1848 revolution, Kossuth, whose exploits so impressed the British public that he enjoyed a comfortable exile for some months on the fringes of Holland Park.
Labels: Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, Transport Museum in Budapest
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