N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
Lapidarium, workshop, store-room - the nation's museum undermined
chandise hang over the ground-floor spaces. Escalators facilitate movement from one place to another. As part of the alterations, the once controversial tunnel was also restored. The tunnel had been damaged during World War II when a forty-metre section caved in. With the Danube no longer used for the purposes of transportation, the tunnel has assumed a new function. It is now via this tunnel, and thus away from the path of foodstuffs, that garbage generated in the market hall is disposed of. The gate towards the embankment has been restored to the original plans, which includes the rebuilding of its inscription. A gate locking water out guarantees the safety of the basement. Lapidarium, workshop, store-room - the nation’s museum undermined Begun almost a decade ago, the ongoing reconstruction of the Hungarian National Museum is planned to be completed in 2003. The task set a huge challenge for the experts as this neo-Classical masterpiece, built to plans by Mihály Pollack in 1837—47, was t0 t>e restored to its original condition, while being provided with all the engineering instalments and equipment of museum technology that are indispensable for a public collection in the 21st century. Several details are now in place to recall the original designs of Pollack, surprising the public which had been used to the sight resulting from almost a hundred years' of reconstruction and extension jobs. During reconstruction the builders have also tried to enlarge the spaces available. The collections and the workshops have been moved into spaces in the attic, and the original basement area has also been expanded. That is because in Pollack's designs underground spaces were restricted to the area underneath the building only, but plans made in 1987 provided for structures beneath the surface of both courtyards, too. Construction work under the surface started with something far less spectacular. First of all, the existing cellars had to be insulated as subsoil water levels in Pest had risen by nearly two metres in the past twenty to twenty-five years, a water pan forming as a result. Corridors encircling the building had to be made to form a system of so-called English tunnels to prevent water leaking and to let light into the rooms arranged in the cellars. Construction work beneath the southern courtyard was concluded in 1998, while the rooms had been installed under the northern yard by 2001. After that, 18
