Fabó Beáta - Gall, Anthony: I came from the East to a City of Great Palaces. Károly Kós, the early years 1907-1914 (Budapest, 2013)
Kós' First Steps as an Independent Architect
H Perspective view Csutak Vilmos (szerk.): Emlékkönyv a Székely Nemzeti Múzeum 50 éves jubileumára, 1929 Earlier proposals for the Museum were made by: József Huszka (1898) Győző Gyárfás (1899,1904) Ede Dvorák (1907) Dezső Hültl (1909) Proposal by Győző Gyárfás, 1904 SZNM Proposal by Dezső Hültl, version with tower, 1909 SZNM THE SZÉKELY NATIONAL MUSEUM IN SEPSISZENTGYÖRGY / SFÂNTU GHEORGHE A SYNTHESIS OF TRANSYLVANIAN ARCHITECTURE ‘I consider this task as a reward for my efforts so far..’. Kós was officially commissioned to design the new building of the Székely National Museum in late March 1911. The sketch designs were made in barely a month, the detailed designs from late summer and into the autumn - while the construction was actually under way. He worked on the ornamental details and furniture designs in 1912-13. Because of the war, however, the museum was only partially furnished and the opening ceremony had to be cancelled. During the war the building was used as a military hospital. It was finally finished and furnished only in the 1920's and 30's. The Commission ‘It was in late 1910 (in fact early 1911) that I received the commission for what was perhaps my most cherished task as an architect, designing and constructing the Székely National Museum in Sepsiszentgyögy (Sfântu Gheorghe) - and in a rather odd way at that. In 1910 the management of the Székely National Museum - Mayor Gödri and teachers Ferenc László and Vilmos Csutak - realised they had acquired a suitable plot and enough cash for the project and so they asked the National Museum and Library Authority in Budapest to appoint an appropriate architect for designing the building. The Authority recommended Dezső Hültl, professor of architecture, who made the sketch design in due course - in a sort of German-Swiss style. Apparently the authorities were not satisfied with this sketch, or maybe Hültl himself was unhappy with it - either way, Professor Hültl, who had been a teaching assistant to Professor Hauszmann while I was a student at the Technical University and so knew me well, asked me to urgently make a sketch for a museum building - strictly in line with the construction program for the site - and send it to him. I did make the sketch and handed it in. It didn't take long after this for me to receive a formal announcement from the management of the Székely National Museum letting me know my sketch had been approved and I was commissioned to create the detailed designs as well as oversee the construction work’. KOS 1991:114-116. I was commissioned two weeks ago to make the designs for the Székely National Museum by the National Museum and Library Authority, with specific instructions to be reasonably hasty. Needless to say, no other commission could make me quite as happy as this one. So far all my work consisted of studying thefolk art, architecture, language and entire wonderfully preserved ancient national character of our Hungarian people in Transylvania, the Székely people, the Kalotaszeg region - so that it can become the foundation of my work, so that I can create something that’s maybe Hungarian. I consider this task as a rewardfor my efforts so far and an encouragement to keep walking this path.Käroly Kós' letter to the Mayor, 10th April, 1911. ‘Maybe it would be possible to make Transylvanian art in Transylvania. It would be best carried out startingfrom the Székelyföld region. Well, we shall see’.KírolyK6sleaert°hiswife,23rd,anuary1910-A similar design by Károly Kós, no date, private collection Right: Sepsiszentgyörgy/Sfäntu Gheorghe, Székely National Museum. László Haris 154
