A family of artists and an overview of a town’s painting

The new Ferenczy Museum in Szentendre

MúzeumCafé 36.

Szentendre is known as a town of painters, museums and galleries, yet prior to 1951 it had no mu-seum. Although the Szentendre local museum and archive was established in 1925, it didn’t have a building of its own until 1951, when it moved into a former Serbian Orthodox school built in the 18th century. The museum was named after the painter Károly Ferenczy, who lived and worked in the town for some years. As the deadline for handing over the central building of the museum to the Serbian Church approached, new ideas were necessary. In 2009 the county obtained ownership of the court building in Szentendre’s main street, which had been constructed in the early 19th century for Gáspár Pajor, a doctor who from 1818 was also a county court judge. Following renovation, the street façade of the building has retained its original character, together with its southern porch entrance. The northern and southern wings have been joined by a newly-built, one-storey western wing, while the courtyard façade of the southern wing has been given a glass curtain wall. The building has access for people with special needs. The exhibition and storage spaces have all the required means for artwork protection, including air temperature control ensuring stable temperature and humidity. The new Ferenczy Museum opened in January. Its permanent exhibition presents a comprehensive overview of Szent-endre arts. The new exhibition has three equally important parts. The exhibition Modern Masters of a Golden Age – Art of the Fe-renczy Family on the first floor has almost 150 works of art. The second unit focuses on the founders of the Szentendre artists’ colony. The third is entitled Works of Art and Artists in Szentendre – The Changing Face of Szentendre.