A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 28. (Békéscsaba, 2006)

Merényi-Metzger Gábor: The formal portrait gallery of the County Hall in Gyula

A gyulai vármegyeháza egykori arcképcsarnoka The formal portrait gallery of the County Hall in Gyula - Gábor Merényi-Metzger Resume The county portrait galleries developed between the 18th and the 20th centuries. The paintings that are part of the collection were usually exhibited in the meeting hall of the County House and usually portraied the leaders of the county administration, the lord lieutenants, other significant persons playing a national role or members of the reigning family. It was the same in the case of the County House of Békés County in Gyula. But in the County House of Békés County it weren't only the lord lieutenant's portraits that were hang out, but also portraits of other persons. Portraits of Franz Joseph I. and queen Elisabeth, of governor Miklós Horthy and of the governor's deputy István Horthy, of great statesmen - such as Lajos Batthyány, Ferenc Deák, Lajos Kossuth, István Széchenyi and István Tisza, of other illustrious persons of Békés County - such as László Wenckheim president of the Savings Bank, Pál Jancsovics and Sándor Daimel deputy lieutenants could be seen as well. Our investigations pointed out that before 1944 the portrait gallery of Békés County consisted of 27 pieces. Most of them can't be found anymore, because the military command of the Red Army that resided int he building between 1944-1946 seated the fate of these pieces of art. Merényi-Metzger Gábor MTA KSZI H1051 Budapest, Nádor и. 18. E-mail: merenyi.gabor@ella.hu 389