Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 16. (Budapest, 1997)

LOVAY Zsuzsanna: Thék Endre szerepe a budai királyi palota Szent István tennének berendezésében

ZSUZSANNA LOVAY ENDRE THÉK'

S CONTRIBUTION TO THE FURNISHING OF SAINT STEPHEN ROOM IN THE ROYAL PALACE OF BUDA Endre Thék's furniture factory was the first in Hungary to play an important part on national and international level. It is therefore not by chance that, during the years of its activity (1867-1919), it was commissionned to realize the furniture of the most important institutions and administrative buildings of the capital. Its development having occurred mainly during the period of historicism, its activity had an important part to play in the evolution of that style. In accordance with common usage throughout Europe, Thék had several well-known architects and furniture designers working for him: his conception of historism, which certainly had a great impact on the products of his factory, clearly emerges from his writings. Even though he was not really a designer himself, Thék must have exerted some influence on the work of his collaborators. Knowing so little about his factory or the artistic production of any Hungarian furniture factory functionning in the same period appears rather odd to me. I have been brought to deal with Thék's stylistic choices - among which historicism was doubtless the most typical - while collecting data for my research about Thék's factory, flourishing in a time when the diverse periods and forms of revival styles had already been developed.

1 The ensemble in question in this article the so-called St. Stephen room of the royal palace of Buda - was unfortunately destroyed in January 1945, during World War II. It was then reconstructed on the base of illustrated publications and archive pictures. The fact that this ensemble is probably the most concentrated example of Thék's historicizing conception and style known today makes it worthy of some attention. After the death, in 1891, of Miklós Ybl, who had been commissionned with the transformation of the royal palace, Alajos Hauszmann was entrusted the task of bringing this major enterprise to an end. He started his work by making important changes in the plans designed by his predecessor.

2 The main weight in Hauszmann's conception of furniture for the palace was put on the perpetuation of the most important epochs of Hungarian history: "(...) in order to create a memorial to the Árpád (St.Stephen room Roman), the Hunyadi (King Matthias room - Renaissance), and the Habsburg (Queen Maria Theresia room - Baroque) periods, we have transformed a few rooms situated in focal points of the palace so as to correspond to the features of the periods in question."

3 This declaration leans on the theory of dogmatic historicism. Hauszmann's choice among the different historical periods and the corresponding styles was deliberate: as a royal palace must always represent the country in its totality, the historicistic rooms were therefore destined to prove the existence of a continuity with the glorious past. Thus, the link with Hungarian history was representative in purpose and symbolic in meaning. The St.Stephen room, made up in "Roman" style, played a "museal" part in the sense that it was not intended to be used but rather to serve as a testimony of continuity in Hungarian history. According to Hauszmann,