The long semi-hibernation of Nagytétény
The historic Száraz-Rudnyánszky Mansion is on the verge of a rebirth
MúzeumCafé 28.
The Száraz-Rudnyánszky Mansion is somewhat hidden, squeezed between Nagytétény and Road 6, which runs by the Danube. The Applied Arts Museum, now responsible for maintaining the entire building, aims to create new space with the renovation of its currently empty wing. In the near future the environs of the mansion will undergo regeneration. In Roman times a villa near the Campona military encampment stood on the site of the mansion. In the 13th century members of the Tétény clan built a fortress where today’s building stands. During the period of Ottoman rule, high-ranking Turkish officers lived in the manor house and after the 1686 liberation its imposing ruins remained standing. Captain Ferenc Buchingen gained possession of the estate, then legal ownership passed into the hands of Baron György Száraz, a royal councillor, who began farm management in Tétény in 1716 and had the Baroque mansion built. In 1904 the mansion suffered fire damage and all of its original furnishings perished. A children’s home occupied the smaller wing from the end of the 19th century until recent times. At the end of the 1940s the Museum of Applied Arts established the forerunner of today’s history of furniture exhibition in the larger halls. Archaeological explorations and building renovation got underway, but in the late 1980s the deteriorating condition of the edifice necessitated closure of the museum. Renovation restarted in 1997, and 2000 saw the opening of the current exhibition. The mansion plays a part in the life of the district. The staff and friends of the museum are hoping that their own resources and those being invested in the environs will make Nagytétény once more an enticing attraction among the country’s museums.