A moment of rebirth
The Vaszary Villa as a symbol of Balatonfüred’s new life
MúzeumCafé 19.
Since it opened in May more than 15,000 people have viewed the exhibitions of the Vaszary Villa in Balatonfüred. That doesn’t say much until you consider that this small town on the northern shore of Lake Balaton has a population of just 13,000. In connection with the opening of an István Nádler exhibition in the middle of the summer, Lóránd Hegyi, noted art historian and the director of the Saint Etienne Museum of Arts in France, declared it was feasible that within three years Balatonfüred could become a real cultural centre. That is also the opinion of András Doncsev, head of the local authority owned non-profit company which manages the town’s cultural institutes, who believes that high-level culture is needed not only in Budapest but also in the provinces. Today this should no longer mean village cultural centres, but European-standard exhibition spaces, such as the Vaszary Villa. András Doncsev speaks about how popular the new exhibition area has become in a short space of time and how many visitors there have been. Balatonfüred can indeed be proud since, within the 2nd ‘Gems of the Balaton Shore’ EU tender, the town won 1.5 billion forints, to which the local authority contributed 400 million. From this has emerged the town’s ‘cultural quarter’, the complete reconstruction of the Vaszary Villa with its picture gallery, renovation of the Jókai Villa and the opening of a new municipal museum. The recent investments are significant in addition the town may acquire international renown in a short time. “Balatonfüred has countless cultural programmes, which define the town’s character, a target public has been identified and we can boldly build on that.” András Doncsev stresses that previously they had no way of measuring and assessing the satisfaction, financial means and demands of people visiting the town.