Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 25. (Budapest, 2007)

Ildikó PANDÚR: The Role of Gyula Jungfer in Hungary's National Exhibition of 1885

on Ferenc József tér (today: Roosevelt tér).12 From then until the opening in 1885, events speeded up across the country. In 1884, a new industry law was passed and in the same year the Applied Arts Association was formed. In 1885, the journal Művészi Ipar was launched.

The show, which has also been seen as the cradle of foreign tourism in Hungary, remained open from 2 May 1885 until mid- October that year. Among the approximately 12,000 exhibitors who took part in it were several hundred foreigners.13 Many novelties and other items of interest awaited visitors.14 The advertisement for the exhibition is regarded by art historians as the first example of poster art in Hungary.15 The undertaking, which was impressive in terms of size also, has, naturally, being compared to the Millennial Exhibition organised eleven years later. Like the 1896 event, it was located in the City Park, on a site that was considerably smaller than that used for the Millennial Exhibition. The section of the City Park used for the 1885 exhibition (i.e. the Stefánia-út - István-út - Hermina-út part) was planted with trees especially for the purpose (Fig. 2). At the time of the Millennial Exhibition, the material of the Historical Division took centre-stage, while in 1885 the historical exhibits were merely

Fig. 3 Hall of Industry

symbolic in comparison to the contemporary ones, being present in the form of a supplementary exhibition, and then ‘only because the fashion at exhibitions requires it’. Because of this, a critic of the day chided the Organising Committee.16 In this very year, at a congress of the Historical Society held in July, Floris Romer delivered his paper entitled ‘Stimulating a Sense of History in the Public by Means of Festive Processions, National Pictures, Historical Exhibitions, and Museums’.17

Of the more than one hundred buildings and pavilions serving to present the different themes and to provide entertainment and comfort for visitors, only three survived in their original locations following the closure of the 1885 exhibition. All three played a role at the Millennial Exhibition of 1896. The largest exhibition space - the Hall of Industry designed by Ulrich Keresztely (Fig. 3) - fulfilled the same function in 1896,18 after extension performed by the firm Gregersen and Sons. Following an enlargement made to plans by Rezso Ray, the Royal Pavilion erected for the monarch and his family (Fig. 4) was also operating eleven years later, this time as a confectionery shop run by Henrik Kugler. (This so-called Gerbeaud Kiosk functioned right up until the end of the Second World War.19)

Fig. 4 Royal Pavilion

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