Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 26. (Budapest, 2008)

Mária FERENCZY: Chinese Moon Gate on Budapest's Andrássy Avenue. The Garden of Ferenc Hopp, I

his employees lauded the work of their boss in an album;

6 describing the garden in the following terms: On entering the interesting summer residence, one immediately notices the garden, to which there is nothing comparable either in the capital or in the country as a whole. It is as though a part of Japan with its smiling skies has been spirited away to the very middle of Budapest. Charming Oriental climbing plants and rare flowers that vie with each other in the rich magnificence of their colours seize upon our attention. From among the shrubs and flowers peep Hindu idols and Chinese andJapanese urns and sculptures, arousing surprise in the visitor. Among these artefacts are a magnificent elephant carved from syenite and a stone relic weighing heavily upon a turtle. At the entrance there is a rounded Chinese ornamental gate with a circular aperture andfull of lovely little sculptures. There is even a Japanese bamboo bridge, and in a corner of the garden a Japanese garden-house, too. '

7 1. The Knorr - later Hopp - villa at the Sugár (later Andrássy) Avenue at the end of the seventies of the 19'' century. Photograph by György Klösz 2. Detail of the villa s garden with Ferenc Hopp staying in the arch of the Moon Gate, c. 1895. Photograph by Mór Erdélyi For his part, Zoltán Felvinczi Takács,

8 in his handwritten memoirs, which he prepared a good deal later, wrote (among other things) :

9 'With its pond and the bridge linking the hilly sides, the playful maze that was there at one time imitatedJapan and led to a reed-covered arbour open on three sides. From time to time this was full of guests, among whom the host imagined himself back in the Far East [...]. [...] This, by and large, is how we can describe Ferenc Hopp'

s little empire. In creating it the master of the house was assisted by two people: the architect Géza Györgyi,™ the builder of the round Chinese gate; and the gardener Ignácz Starek. ' According to these accounts, the majority of the art works known today were already in the garden in the mid-1890s. In