Műemlékállományunk bővülése, új műemlékfajták (Az Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1987 Eger, 1987)

Nováki Gyula: Őskori és középkori földvárak Magyarországon

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HÁL Y K UBINSZK Y: RAILWAY ARCHITECTURE AND ITS PRESERVATION The railways in Hungary date back 150 years, and represent the fruit? of a huge programme of construction. The Hungarian railway system included approximately 1,500 railway stations, creating approximately 3 million m

3 of covered space, equivalent to the space available in a town large enough to accomodate 50,000 inhabitants. This was reduced by roughly half after the frontier revisions after World War I, but nevertheless, the railways represents a significant proportion of our national heritage. Ever since the beauty, intrinsic value and artistic stature of late XlXth century and early XXth century architecture has been recognized, the question of the preservation of railway architecture has arisen. On the one hand, this comprises one of the newest fields of conservation, and on the other the techniques of industrial archaeology are employed its ideals adhered to. The history of a major industry is under consideration. There are a wide variety of diffent types of railway building ranging from minor provincial halts to vaste capital city termini. Along with passenger stations, we find freight facilities, specialized structures and official residences. Modern railways with their diesel and electric traction differ greatly from the railways of the past, dominated as they were by steam traction. Over a period of 150 years, many generations travelled under broadly similar conditions. The lines were straightended and modernized, signalling and safety improved and perfected, and new strengthened bridges erected. It is only the railway buildings themselves that sometimes reflect the original statesometimes dating back to the heroic age of the railways. The first lines to be built in Hungary were between Budapest and Vác, and between Budapest and Szolnok. These still contain a considerable number of original railway buildings which would have been seen by István Széchényi or Sándor Petőfi during their travels. This is not bad for buildings which are still performing a valuable function in a modern rail transport system. It is for this very reason, that when considering whether a building is to be retained or not, it is not just simply its artistic value that is considered. In the early period of railway construction, the work of certain private railway companies was particularly important. The buildings along the Vác and Szolnok lines of the Hungarian Central Railways, the Romantic buildings of the Tisza Regional Railway Company on the Szolnok—

Debrecen—

Nyíregyháza—Szerencs—

Miskolc line, at Szajol and Arad (Arad Rom) and on the Püspükladány—Nagyvárad (Oradea Rom) and Felsőzsolca—Kassa (Kosice Cz) lines, the buildings of the South Balaton line belonging originally to the Southern Railway Company, the Székesfehérvár—Komárom line and the Sopron—Nagykanizsa—Bares line are all of particular value. The Hungarian State Railway Company founded in 1867 carried out the most major programme of railway construction, and they built their smaller provincial stations according to standardized designs. The major stations were designed by Ferenc Pfaff and his colleagues in the Historicist style. Among his most significant works are the stations at Füzesabony, Szeged, Pécs and the two stations at Miskolc. The stations at Szolnok, Debrecen, Nyíregyháza and Győr have disappeared. Of particular importance, though, are the two main railway termini in Budapest, the "Nyugati pu", or Western Station, built on the site of the original Neo-classicist Pest railway station. The new station was designed by the Eiffel Office in Paris, and was part of a major redevelopment scheme in Pest—the construction of the Outer, or Great Ring. The Eiffel Office received the order to design the metal superstructure, and the building itself was designed by the developer—the Hungarian State Railway Company. The architectural director of this French controlled private railway company was August de Serres—who was himself of French origin, and it must therefore come as no surprise that he turned to the Eiffel Office when it came to the design of the railway station. The "Keleti pu", or Eastern Station was desgined by the Hungarian architect Gyula Rochlitz and the main glass—roofed reception building by the famous János Feketeházy, and completed in 1884. The two buildings created interest in railway buildings in general, and Eiffel's Western Station has been listed for years. However, it has only been in the last few years that the realization has been made that there are many buildings along Hungarian railway lines deserving preservation. The Construction and Track Maintenance Department of the Hungarian State Railways, the Building Construction Department, the Historical Committee, the Museum of Transport and last, but not least, the National Ins-