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

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

Hungarian universities. They were made in Budapest and sent to Pittsburgh. However, the university opined that it was foreign politically questionable to have the armorials of Pozsony, Nagyszombat and Kolozsvár universities displayed since these towns had been annexed to Czechoslovakia and Romania, respectively, by the peace treaty terminating World War I. They asked Washington for advice. In the end, only the earlier mentioned coat of arms of Buda University was put up in the room, above the blackboard. When preparing plans for the Paris World Fair, Dénes Györgyi was toying with the idea of using the ceiling panels painted by Antal Diósy in the restaurant before sending them to Pittsburgh. He asked for the university's permission, but the answer was a firm "no". The panels were therefore copied and the copies were taken to Paris. The Hungarian restaurant in Paris was a sweeping success, Dénes Györgyi and Antal Diósy earning Grand Prix, and Dénes Györgyi being decorated with the officer's cross of the Legion of Honour. This idea of Dénes Györgyi must underlie the (mistaken) anecdote written by John F. Lovász in an article.

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3 The room was dedicated on 29 September 1939. It is noteworthy that despite the financial problems and the difficulties in communication, the Hungarian Room was the eighth to be completed out of the still extant 27 nationality rooms. There were plans to provide further art works for the room. János Pásztor's wooden sculpture "Leave-taking", a present by Governor Miklós Horthy, and a gift of the governor's wife, a lace tablecloth - both 32