Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 97. (Budapest, 2002)
The Year 2002
THE YEAR 2002 CONSTRUCTION - EXHIBITION ROOMS Besides the continuation of the architectural renovation, the fundamental task of this year was to restore the objects intended for exhibition and to increase their number through new acquisitions as far as possible. The reconstruction —its forthcoming phases and the plans for the exhibitions related to this project —requires the prudent and planned care and development of the existing collection. The main objective is to put to use the reconstructed and enlarged parts of the building immediately and, as much as possible, in accordance with their permanent function. This year it was the Department of Antiquities and the Old Masters' Gallery to occupy their renovated and significantly enlarged office area on the mezzanine floor in the right wing. The planned next phase II/2 of the ongoing large reconstruction project of the Museum of Fine Arts is the most significant enlargement so far, adding more than three thousand square meters to the exhibition space. The plan was the construction of an L-shaped, underground wing along the corner of the present building towards Heroes' Square and Dózsa György street. After the public announcement of the results of the officially effected public procurement by tender but before the conclusion of the contracts, the reconstrution project was halted on superior order and the works never began. NEW ACQUISITIONS In the field of new acquisitions, it was the Department of Antiquities to grow most considerably. Out of the more than one hundred new entries, a terracotta Aphrodite from Corinth, two south-Arabian alabaster statuettes, a fourth-century clay head-vase and red jasper gem have significant value. Four important works have entered the inventory of the Old Masters' Gallery: the Flight into Egypt by Francisco Antolínez, the Holy Family by Flaminio Torri, Saint Augustine and the Holy Trinity by Johann Michael Rottmayr and a Martyrdom of St. Sebastian by an eighteenth-century Italian painter. The Department of Old Sculpture was enriched by two Austrian wooden reliquary busts, the Department of Prints and Drawings, by three drawings and 50 prints. The most outstanding pieces in the latter group include an etching by Stefano della Bella, an engraving by Anton Masson, 11 lithographs by François Grenier, 17 lithograph portraits by Josef Kriehuber, 2 colour prints by Sol Lewill and colour lithograph by Sam Francis. The Department of Modem Art acquired six new works. The Library received 2.920 books and 1.909 periodicals. In total, 4.829 new volumes were acquired for the value of about 3 1 million forints.
