Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 28. (Budapest, 2012)

Magdolna ZIMÁNYI (GYÖRGYI): The Hungarian Room Designed by Dénes Györgyi at the University of Pittsburgh

The literature on the Hungarian Room in Pittsburgh

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9 contains several references to 5000 dollars (about 30,000 pengő

) allegedly paid by minister Klebelsberg for the room. The disbursement of such an amount cannot be found in the ministry's documents. In a letter of 1932 Dénes Györgyi wrote - Klebelsberg was no longer the minister as he resigned in 1931: " The Ministry of Education gave not only its moral support, but in its budget for 1930 apportioned a substantial amount for the room. [...] In the meantime, however, the world depression created such a serious financial crisis in Hungary that they are unable at the present time to live up to their promise of support towards this worthy enterprise. "

20 In a personal letter to Sámuel Gömöry of the same date, Györgyi wrote the following: "The ministry of culture is unable to pay a single cent at the moment, so the cause of the Hungarian room of the University of Pittsburgh is based solely on me and my extremely thin purse [...] We mustn't let this national project launched with so much hope and patriotic enthusiasm vanish. [...] As for me, I will perform my duty as long as I can."

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1 Apparently, after the resignation of Klebelsberg the ministry failed to live up to the minister's promise. In an article Zsolt Nagy

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2 claims that some Central European countries - Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania - saw the nationality rooms as a means for the promotion of their respective countries and therefore supported the cause. Apparently, this stance was adopted by the Ministry of Religion and Public Education, until the resignation of Kunó Klebelsberg, while among foreign political actors only consul Alexy regarded it as important, but he failed to win support from the embassy or the Foreign Ministry. Dénes Györgyi himself looked upon the planning of the room as a national cause which had to be accomplished even at the expense of sacrifices. The costs of planning and creating the Room were covered by contributions from the university, the Hungarian communities in and around Pittsburgh, first of all the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association, the Rákóczi Association,

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3 and another 61 Hungarian associations, religious congregations and other organizations as well as private persons, and charity concerts. The booklet published for the opening of the room

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4 lists by name some 400 contributors. Fund-raising was mainly organized by Dr. Sámuel Gömöry and Ruth Crawford Mitchell, who were indefatigably doing the rounds of the Hungarian communities. The Room The rationale of Dénes Györgyi's plan is as follows: "The execution of the wood covering and furniture of the room is massive but very simple. The quiet simplicity brings forth the highly ornamental ceiling and vice versa, the colored and highly ornamental ceiling emphasizes the quietly simple unified wall-covering of the room. Relative to the style, I was trying to follow closely the Magyar folk ornaments. "

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5 The choice of the folk style owes certainly to the expectation of the university to have the room in a style prior to the year 1787. Presumably for similar considerations other nationality rooms - e.g. the Lithuanian, Swedish and Norwegian halls - were also designed in folk style. The oblong room measures about 5.7 m x 6.8 m with a bay window of 1.5 m in depth on one of the longitudinal sides. The room can seat some twenty students, (figs. 2 and 3) The walls are covered from floor to 27