Tanulmányok Budapest Múltjából 29. (2001)

A BUDAI KIRÁLYI PALOTA MŰVÉSZETI, KULTURÁLIS SZEREPE - Rostás Péter: Egy helyiség helye : a Budavári Palota Hunyadi Mátyás-termének története. Függelék: A Hunyadi Mátyás-terem kivitelezése 487-538

42. Lehmanntól a Neuschlosz-cég tevékenységéről a következőket tudjuk meg: „E cég különben a palota többi emeleteihez [a Szent István-termen kívül - R. P.] is szállítja a parketteket, részben pedig külön rajzok után gazdag változatokban" (LEHMANN, 1900,75.). 43. SÁROSI, 1902, 8. sz., 5.: „...a 2-ik emeleten és az udvari ablakoknál 4 mm vastag szolinüveg lett alkalmazva...". PÉTER ROSTÁS HISTORY OF THE MATTHIAS HUNYADI ROOM OF THE ROYAL PALACE Summary The Matthias Hunyadi Room was once the central hall on the western side of the Krisztinaváros wing of the Royal Palace. Along with the other two historical-monumental halls in the palace —the Saint Stephen and the Habsburg Rooms— it epitomised Hauszmann's historicist concept of the "Magyar Style," in which he tried to synthetize a number of trends present in the contemporary development of a distinctly national style. Pragmatically overseeing and leading the work on the Royal Palace, he integrated four fundamental tendencies to establish a typically "Magyar Style." First, Hauszmann encorporated and applied the historicist tendency of "grafting" Hungarian ornamentation onto historical styles — a task that he wittily referred to as an "ennobling" of the "Magyar" ornament-treasury. Secondly, revealing a further integration of contemporary historicist trends, he referenced national architectural styles by encorporating selected Hungarian architectural monuments into his designs. In light of these references, his work in the room embodies what we can term a "national traditionalism." With regard to Hauszmann's historicist ambitions and his attempt to develop a national traditionalism, the Hunyadi Room possesses a particular semiotic significance not found in the other two monumental-historical rooms: here we recognize a deliberate citation of the Hungarian Renaissance at the time of King Matthias, the time period Hauszmann considered the legitimate starting point for a national traditionalism. Hauszmann fascination with and knowledge of the Renaissance period of the Royal Castle arose principally through his archaelogical excavations at the site. Underscoring the site's Renaissance past, he denoted the style he developed for the Hunyadi Room by evoking the name of Benedetto da Maiano, who, Vasari's history informs us, worked at the court of King Matthias. With this skilful semiotic slight of hand, he positioned his neo-renaissance interior in relation to a foreign Renaissance master and, at the same time, focused attention on the beginnings of the Hungarian Renaissance. By using Benedetto's name to christen his style, Hauszmann applied a concept of the "assimilation" of foreign masters and convincingly drew one of the greatest masters of Ée Renaissance into die orbit of Hungarian art history. To the degree that his style and name stresses the connection between the Italian and Hungarian Renaissances, they work together to highlight a fundational period in Hungarian national history. The third stylistic direction Hauszmann appropriated and adapted to create a "Magyar Style" was the application of Oriental and Byzantine elements, which Hauszmann primarily used in the design of the Saint Stephen Room. Finally, Ée fourth trend he introduced was a folk-style of art nouveau. Hauszmann used the style sparingly, applying it only where the function of the building permitted. He tactfully treated Queen Elisabeth to Éis style in the so-called Peasant House, her summer house located among the ruins of the southern bastion. Though he must have been aware of the details of an archeologically correct reconstruction, Hauszmann consciously made Ée elements of Ée national architecture of Ée Renaissance in Ée 16th century more "Quattrocentesque" by means of elongating Ée proportions and of a restrained plasticity of Ée wall-panels. Nevertheless the style of the Hunyady-Room has its origins in Ée "Wiener Stil", which embodied prominent examples of Ée "Germanized" Italian Renaissance. In Éis respect, one must pay special attention to Ée rhomboid leitmotif of Ée decoration. It was a basic pattern in Ée German Renaissance and became a popular and determinant element in he contemporary trends of interior decoration on Ée turn of Ée century. On account Ée fact Éat Hauszmann applied Éis motif as a leitmotif in a decoration system to create an atmosphere of early Renaissance —of a period which is not characterized by Éis motif— we can assume Éat Ée use of Éis geometrical form shows Ée influence of Ée prevailing style in Vienna in Ée 1870s and 1880s, as well as Ée current trend of Ée "Secession". A bronze copy of János Fadrusz's equestrian statue of MatÉias (erected in Kolozsvár) decorated the centre of Ée room. The "Mátyás Sanctuary" was going to be crowned by a series of eight paintings by Ée "first painter" Gyula Benczúr who unfortunately died in 1920, only having completed two of Ée paintings and Ée sketches. The Hunyadi Room was destroyed entirely in World War II. In Ée fifties Ée western wing of Ée palace was destined to be converted into party and state administrative headquarters and offices, but eventually, in 1958, it was given over to Ée new national library. The space where Ée Hunyadi Room once was has since been made into the central exhibition room of Ée library, originally destined for displaying King MatÉias' illuminated manuscripts from Ée famous Corvina library. 537