Hajós György: Heroes' Square - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)
In June of 1944, During World War II, the building was hit by an areal bomb collapsing the foyer’s wall nearest Aréna út and parts of the ceiling. When the section was rebuilt between 1962 and 1965 to plans made by the same architect, the foundations were reinforced with a supplementary set of piles. When the section was rebuilt, to plans made by the same architect, it was reinforced with a supplementary set of piles. For its centenary in 1995, the building of the Exhibition Hall was completely renovated. New spaces—a lecture hall in the basement and educational studios—were opened on the occasion. Since its opening the Exhibition Hall has been the venue of innumerable significant events. Besides regular fine arts exhibitions, the facility has housed flower displays and various festive events. In World War I a military hospital was set up in it. In 1900 the body of Mihály Munkácsy lay in state here and it was also from here that the bier of Károly Lotz started its last journey in 1904, as did those of Ödön Lechner and Béla Spá- nyi in 1914. It was on the steps of the Exhibition Hall that the country’s prime minister during the 1956 Clprising, Imre Nagy, and his comrades in martyrdom lay in state in 1989. After World War II the Exhibition Hall gradually assumed the function of displaying contemporary fine arts (and the works of such other arts as photography, applied arts, etc.). Among the regular events held here are the International Triennial of Small Sculpture and, since 1991, the International MINTA Triennial (a thematic exhibition of applied and fine arts). The Museum of Fine Arts The north side of the square is flanked by the massive building of the Museum of Fine Arts, which houses one of the largest and most significant public collections in the country, one that contains several truly world-famous items. The public arts collections of Hungary are not derived, unlike numerous great collections elsewhere, from the private collections of the country, as the latter were either 42
