Műcsarnok 130

Across the exhibition’s three galleries, visitors can trace the 130-year history of the Műcsarnok. The first gallery features a timeline showcasing the exhibitions and key historical milestones since its opening in 1896. We also present a selection of artworks, with a sculpture, painting or print highlighting some of the more significant exhibitions. In the second and third galleries, greater emphasis is placed on recent exhibitions, with the factual presentation here also accompanied by a selection of artworks. Particular focus is placed on showcasing exhibitions from the past six years, so that visitors move not only along the timeline but also through the space, from the beginnings to the present. Our aim is for visitors to discover as many interesting moments as possible from the institution’s history and, through individual artworks, to relive the moments evoked.

The building itself is a national landmark that is unique from both a historical and an urban planning perspective. Designed by Albert Schickedanz, the palace—which incorporates neoclassical and ancient Etruscan motifs—was opened to the nation by Franz Joseph I on 4 May 1896. We are also displaying some of the building’s original architectural drawings and watercolour designs of the exterior façade in the exhibition. Together with the Museum of Fine Arts and the Millennium Monument, the Art Gallery forms the symbolic composition of Heroes’ Square: the sacred, colonnade-enclosed centre of celebrations of national identity and major state honours. From its very inception, the institution has borne witness to pivotal moments in Hungarian history and turning points in the arts: Mihály Munkácsy, Károly Lotz and Mihály Zichy were laid in state in its ceremonial hall, whilst Imre Nagy and his fellow martyrs of 1956 were bid farewell on its imposing external steps on 16 June 1989, an event that marked the historic beginning of the political transition.

The exhibition structure has continually adapted to the challenges of the times over the past 130 years. Founded by the National Hungarian Society of Fine Arts, the institution subsequently passed into the ownership of the Capital City in 1926, and which came under state administration after the war, has evolved from the historic National Fine Arts Exhibitions and the exhibitions of the socialist era – which were initially ideologically charged but later broke with the Stalinist canon and became increasingly modern – to its current form of operation. Since 2014, the Műcsarnok has been run by the Hungarian Academy of Arts; it was at this time that the National Salons series began, showcasing five art forms on a five-year rotation.