Budapest’s extraordinary Museum of Applied Arts – housed in a gorgeous Art Nouveau building that is itself a masterpiece of applied arts – will close on September 2nd for major renovations scheduled to last for three years. Although this landmark exhibition hall will not be accessible during most of the renewal process, many pieces of the museum’s collection will be transferred to other public viewing spaces – and several special programs will welcome visitors to discover hidden areas of the building in early autumn, just before intensive renovation works begin.
Completed in 1896 as a showcase for Hungary’s Millenary Jubilee, the colorful Museum of Applied Arts is the masterpiece of world-renowned Hungarian architect Ödön Lechner and his partner Gyula Pártos, and the building is an intricately ornate Seccessionist monument inside and out, decorated with intricate Zsolnay tiles and fixtures on most of the external surface, and featuring curvaceous snow-white arches and banisters inside, especially surrounding the glass-roofed grand hall. However, after decades of neglect the museum is in dire need of thorough renovations that are expected to last for three years, with another year possibly required just to move all the fragile artworks on view here – including stained-glass windows, fine porcelain, jewelry, and clothing dating back centuries – to varied storage facilities and other showcases for temporary display.
September 2nd is the last day when ordinary visitors can enter the Museum of Applied Arts, but when the clock strikes midnight and September 3rd begins, the building will reopen for one final all-night viewing celebration, and other special events are expected to welcome the public here during the first few weeks of the closure period to highlight the structure’s hidden nooks and warehouses, accessible during these occasions with a “golden ticket” – providing everyone with one last chance to view the incredible interior once again before the museum partly reopens, which is scheduled to occur one year before the renovations works are completed.
In the meantime, a selection of pieces from the collection will be on view at the György Ráth Museum near City Park – which is managed by the Museum of Applied Arts and is also currently being renovated, but is scheduled to reopen in April of 2018 – among other locations. When the Museum of Applied Arts renewal is complete, the exhibition space will be expanded from 3,000 to 10,000 square meters, and the building will house a new wing to host contemporary art exhibitions; museum management hopes to attract 300,000 visitors yearly after the renovation.
Museum of Applied Arts
Address: Budapest 1091, Üllői út 33-37 Website
