Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
Kós Károly - The early years, 1907-1914
KOS KÁROLY - THE EARLY YEARS, 1907-1914 Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca - Budapest - Zebegény - Sztána/Stana - S E P S I S Z E N T G YÖ R G Y / S FÂ N T U GhEORGHE Károly Kós 1907 private collection circa 1912 Ida Balázs circa 1940 after 1960 Kolozsvár/Cluj-Napoca, The Tailor's bastion of the old city private collection When recalling the past I have reflected on the weirdly winding varied path that I have trodden during the seventy nine years of my life and I have taken stock of the work I had - well or poorly - accomplished. I can state beyond doubt that it had been the four orfive years before moving to Budapest that determined myfate in the future. It was those years that solidified the immature teenager into a grown man, building his character on the basis of the features inherited straight from his parents through a long lineage of ancestors and on the values acquired in the family home. To these were added by my school the building blocks ofa sober and realistic national outlook on history and literary taste, by my hometown the proudly creative spirit, its values of democratic citizenship and its ability to assimilate progressive influences, while the surrounding landscape provided its colour and shape, its air and odour - and the people gave its formative traditions and a beautiful, pure language. All in all, these were the sources of my then solidified spiritual temperament, way of thinking and outlook on the world, which, in turn, would inescapably determine my conduct in the entire stretch of my life with all its crises and changes. It was complemented with specialist knowledge and the perspective of fine art at the University of Technology and with a widening of its scope and the gaining of experience and learning during my later years, butíts core was unchangeable to the last bit at that stage. At the time, I had no idea of this, but now I know for sure: I am not a bit different from my nineteen-year-old self, only sixty years older..’. KOS 1991:30 T was born in Temesvár (Timisoara, 1883), while Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), the home town of my parents was an ever kind and good-hearted nanny to me. Budapest, in turn, would ripen me into an enquiring spirit and would lead me on along my path with gentle understanding! K0STa"y‘‘: 19 ‘We moved to Budapest in the late summer of1902 and in September I started my studies at the Faculty ofEngineering of the University of Technology!K0S I99,: 3a The infant Károly Kós (left) private collection 18
