Tátrai Vilmos szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 90-91.(Budapest, 1999)
The Budapest Museum of Fine Arts in 1998
THE BUDAPEST MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS IN 1998 The number of visitors to the Museum was 189 925. During the year renovation work of the basement of the Baroque Wing was completed, including the offices which ensured the smooth running of the Museum, as well as of the store room of the Old Masters' Gallery. Restoration of the exhibition hall of the Department of Prints and Drawings and its furnishings was also completed. The workshops, library and store room of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities was temporarily moved to a new location. With Swiss help a new metal restoring workshop was opened on the 4 ,h floor of the Szondi utca building. Because of the advanced state of the reconstruction, over half of the permanent exhibition (Italian and Dutch schools) had to be moved from the halls above the Baroque block to the wing on Dózsa György út, which had only half the floor space. On 19 th March a new permanent exhibition was opened called: "Old Masters' Gallery in a different way"; in a slightly more compact arrangement, nevertheless with over one hundred paintings added. 1998 represented the first complete year for the Library in its new place in Szondi utca. Its stock increased considerably by 5469 volumes of books and by 810 periodicals during the year. The number of visitors to the Reading Room was 8816 representing an increase of twice the number of the previous year. EXHIBITIONS Old Masters ' Gallery in a different way Newly rearranged permanent exhibition, opened on March 19 th 1998. Concept: Ildikó Ember; arranged by Ildikó Ember, Agnes Szigeti, Vilmos Tátrai. Assistants Ilona Balogh, Zsuzsa Dobos, Annamária Gosztola, István Németh, Veronika Baranyai, Margit Túrok. In this exhibition 731 paintings can be seen in 14 rooms and in 7 cabinets arranged according to schools, taking into consideration the chronology of the works. Among these paintings there were numerous newly restored works, which were not on display in this building before then. The necessity of condensing these works gave the opportunity to the staff under the leadership of Ildikó Ember to show continuity within the history of art, to demonstrate by the arrangement and grouping of the paintings
