Adventures of the conquering Hungarians
The Arrival of the Hungarians by Árpád Feszty
MúzeumCafé 17.
Towards the end of the 18th century the Scottish artist Robert Barker surprised the world with a new idea and not long afterwards, in 1787, his invention, the panorama painting, was patented. The foreground is an integral element of the optical illusion of panoramas and cycloramas, fully circular paintings which became popular at the end of the 19th century. Today cycloramas are experiencing a revival of interest, despite the fact that some sceptics refer to Hungary’s most famous example of the genre, The Arrival of the Hungarians by Árpád Feszty et al., as a great work of national kitsch. Like so many others in the world, it was created at a time of national Romanticism, in the same period when the Fishermen’s Bastion and the Parliament building in Budapest were constructed. Painting of the cyclorama was encouraged by the noted Hungarian writer Mór Jókai, who was also Feszty’s father-in-law, and the work was created in the fever of the Millennium Celebrations of 1896, which marked the 1000th anniversary of the Hungarians’ arrival in the Carpathian Basin. Together with painters László Mednyánszky, Béla Spányi and Ignác Ujváry, Feszty travelled to the Voloc Valley to make sketches of the Verecke Pass, where the ancient Hungarians crossed the Carpathians. Following the success of the cyclorama in Budapest, in 1898 it was displayed in the area of the former World Expo in London and it returned to Hungary only in 1909. By then its exhibition building had been demolished, so it was housed in a temporary construction in Budapest’s City Park. Feszty himself repaired the damage caused by transport of the painting. After his death in 1914 his daughter Masa attended to the cyclorama with a fair degree of expertise. The ‘temporary’ situation lasted until the winter of 1944 when, during the siege of Pest, the edifice was hit several times, the roof burnt down and the cyclorama went through the hard winter without a roof covering. Members of the Feszty family were pulled apart. Some found themselves in Ógyalla (then in Czechoslovakia, today Hurbanovo in Slovakia), while Masa remained in Hungary. In 1946 a society was formed to rescue the painting and received support from many important personalities. However, its secretary absconded with the finances when he left for America. On 29 April 1970, at the first meeting of the Pusztaszer Memorial Committee, archaeologist Gyula László raised the idea of exhibiting the Feszty cyclorama in a building specially constructed in a future memorial park to be established at Ópusztaszer, where, some time around the year 896, it is believed Árpád and the other Hungarian chieftains met soon after their arrival in the Carpathian Basin to settle the affairs of their newly conquered territory and to distribute land. Ars Antiqua of Poland was commissioned to restore the painting. From 1975 more than 40 Polish experts worked in Ópusztaszer during the 46 months of restoration. Marcin Kovarzewski and Lech Szutkowski had a significant role in the professional management of the process. On the Hungarian side, painter and restorer Árpád Szűcs paid close attention to the work from the very beginning. The Polish specialists were commissioned to obtain the necessary materials for the restoration, while the Hungarians had to ensure the location. An international jury convened regularly saw to the contract being entirely complied with. The jury members included internationally noted restorer Erwin Emmerling, a lecturer at Munich’s University of Technology, representatives from other locations with cycloramas and Hungarian restorers. In 1992 an international meeting with the title ‘Conference of European Cycloramas’ was held in Szeged with the participation of German, Dutch, Swiss, Austrian, Bulgarian, Russian and Hungarian cyclorama experts. With that conference a series of meetings began which still continues today. In 1993 a major exhibition about the history of cycloramas was organised in conjunction with a scientific meeting held in Bonn. A part of the Feszty cyclorama was displayed at that exhibition. The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Raclawice was celebrated in Wroclaw in 1994 and the conference of the following year was again connected to the Feszty cyclorama. The next conference in 1996 was held on the 100th anniversary of the Innsbruck cyclorama, The Battle of Isel Mountain. In 1998 the formation of the International Panorama Council (IPC) in Altötting, Germany, was a significant event from the aspect of the world’s panorama paintings. Preparations had been headed by Gebhard Streicher and Damian Widmer. Ottó Trogmayer was elected honorary president for life of the new organisation. In 1999 the presentation of the restored Bourbaki Panorama was held in Luzern, Switzerland, and in 2000 the conference met again in Ópusztaszer. It was there that László Nagy, the then director of the memorial park, suggested that outstanding cycloramas be included in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage historical relics. Since then three works of art have been awarded the prestigious title: the Waterloo Battle Panorama near Brussels, the Mesdag Cyclorama in The Hague and the Altötting Fugel Cyclorama.