N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
Lapidarium, workshop, store-room - the nation's museum undermined
parts of the ground-floor area were also opened to visitors; previously it was only the upstairs areas where exhibitions were held with the ground-floor level accommodating workshops and offices only. Visitors arriving from the main entrance can now go down a vaulted flight of steps to the area beneath the dome hall. Arranged here is the collection of medieval carved stones; it is also in this tract that a new buffet and, in accordance with Pollack's original ideas, the lavatories have been installed. Also from this point of the ground-floor the lap- idarium established in the area underneath the south courtyard can be accessed. Resulting from the removal of vast quantities of earth, the giant space beneath the museum yard is a truly impressive sight; an enormous room with a floor space of nearly nine hundred square metres. Along the walls are stone relics of the Roman era; surrounded by altar slabs, sarcophagi and tombstones is the magnificent Balácapuszta mosaic. No less impressive in its proportions, the area beneath the north yard houses rooms of a different function. Here are the working areas of the stone, wood and metal restorers and the workshops and store rooms required for their work. Covering a combined floor space of almost a thousand square metres, these rooms are lit from above, via glass bulbs sunk into the paving of the yard. Also located under the north yard are the museological store rooms protected by sophisticated security equipment. ■ Workshops and laboratories were installed beneath the northern yard 19
