Rózsa György: The Palace of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

IV. The first floor

meant for daytime use, the platform was originally situated in front of the windows. A carpet was embroidered for it in 75 x 75 cm squares by "patriotic women" at the appeal of Mrs. János Bohus, eye witness of the surrender at Világos, after the 1848 Revolution. The idea to decorate the walls of the Assembly Hall with frescoes emerged quite early. President József Eötvös said in his inauguration speech: "When science marches victorious into her palace given to her as a gift by the entire nation, let it be opened to the domestic fine arts as well. A nobler ground for devoting all its energies cannot offer itself than the decoration of the Academy, and for the nation, no better chance for the support of domestic artists than the provision of this opportunity." The committee to formulate the programme of the frescoes comprised József Eötvös, Ágoston Trefort, Mihály Horváth, Arnold Ipolyi and Vilmos Fraknói, i.e. all the scholars, writers and politicians who strove for the development of Hungarian historical painting. The drafting of the programme was Arnold Ipolyi's work. Originally, they wanted to commission Mihály Munkácsy (1844—1900), Gyula Benczúr (1844-1920) and Sándor Liezenmayer (1839-1898) who was studying in Munich, to do the painting, but none of them were able to find the time. Eventually, the frescoes of the Assembly Hall were painted by Károly Lotz (1833—1904), one of the leading masters of Hungarian monumental painting. A collection was taken up to secure the financial basis. The paintings, using the al secco technique, were framed by gold-plated plaster decorations, designed by architect Albert Schickedanz (1846-1915), artistic designer of Heroes' Square, and executed by Adolf Götz, a teacher of the school of technical drawing. The paintings were prepared in three phases: the allegories of the ceiling in 1887, the triptych on the Danube-side wall in 1887—1888, and the one opposite in 1891. For the wall facing the windows and originally the platform, therefore the main wall, mural painting was designed depicting figures of Hungary's postBaroque literature like György Bessenyei, Széchenyi and Kossuth, but this was never executed. The fact, that the Citadel of Hungarian Science was decorated with wall paintings depicting literary history, was the outcome of the ruling school of thought at the time of the establishment of the Academy and throughout the 19th century, which saw the duty of the institution besides promoting scientific progress to develop the Hungarian language as well. The wall-paintings on the shorter sidewalls are triptyches; the architectural design of their background unites the triple field divided by pillars into one. On 20