Revitalised functioning in a renovated mansion
The Count Károly Esterházy Museum in Pápa accepts the challenge
MúzeumCafé 41.
With its town centre of Baroque and late 19th-century architecture resting on a medieval basis and in view of its rich traditions Pápa (population 31,000) has reason to be proud among Hungarian towns. Following the vicissitudes of the 20th century, in recent years the Esterházy Mansion in the town centre has been reborn and with the final touches being completed it will soon sparkle again in its former brilliance. Renovation has been timed well. This year Pápa is celebrating its 800th jubilee, recalling the first document, dated 1214, mentioning a settlement where the Small Plain and Bakony Hills meet. It was only at the beginning of the Turkish wars when a weak fortification was raised around the market town. In 1628, due to a marriage, the town became part of the estate of the Esterházys. The Baroque decades of the 17th and 18th centuries witnessed the golden age of Catholic Pápa and it was during this time that the two-storey, irregular U-shaped Esterházy Mansion was constructed. Ferenc Esterházy began to transform the castle buildings of Turkish times into a Baroque mansion. Work began in 1717 and accelerated in 1743 when the Viennese architect Franz Anton Pilgram drew up plans for a mansion which can be seen today on a landscape in the Nádor Hall. From the end of the 18th century there were not many alterations, then in the 1860s Pál Esterházy had the internal spaces remodelled, resulting in the Nádor Hall and the Ancestors’ Hall. Due to its dangerous state, the building was closed in 1995. In 1999
repair work on the roof and drainage pipes began at a cost of 300 million forints. In 2009, thanks to EEA and Norway Fund support of 173 million forints, plus own resources of 96,7 million, it was possible to restore the Baroque interior of the first-floor ceremonia