Hajós György: Heroes' Square - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)

The Exhibition Hall: detail of the tympan

co-operation proved to be long-lived, lasting as it did until the construction of the Museum of Fine Arts was concluded.

After the building permit was issued in October 1894, construction work itself was carried out by the best architects of the period led by Lipót Havel. The frost- resistant polychrome pyrogranite ornamentation and cover were made in the Zsolnay factory. Work had been completed by March 1896. In an event of the Millenary exhibition, the building, together with a fine arts exhibit displaying 1275 works by 267 artists, was inaugurated by the king on 4 May. The press published the list of the notabilities who gave receptions to the king and papers carried photos of the opening ceremony as well as reporting the names of the artists who were introduced to the monarch. The only names missing from these lists were those of the architects. And that in spite of the fact that the construction had a good press at the time: “Architect Albert Schickedanz ... managed to create, with the limited financial resources at his disposal, a permanent home for Hungary’s fine arts, whose artistic exterior is coupled with an interior of spacious halls, whose tranquillity is enhanced by well-balanced lighting”.

Among the essential requirements to consider when drawing up the plans was to arrange the rooms in a simple and clear layout, to avoid the use of ornamentation (in case it distracted attention from the exhibits) and to provide perfect illumination. The floor plan of

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