A major part of the national identity

The collection of the Academy of Sciences was based on public subscriptions and donations

MúzeumCafé 30.

It is not well known that the third floor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences houses a picture gallery. In 1825 at a session of the Diet in Pozsony (today Bratislava) István Széchenyi offered a year’s income from his estates for the establishment of a Hungarian Scientific Society. The gesture created a wave of donations and within five days the cost had been covered. When the building was being planned there was already the idea that it should contain a gallery. At the time discussions were underway about transferring Pál Esterházy’s art collection from his Vienna mansion to Pest and making it accessible for the public. It was soon decided that the envisioned building of the Academy would be the most suitable location and the Esterházy collection was held there until 1906 when it moved to the Fine Arts Museum. Works of the Historical Gallery took their place until 1939. After the war its rooms were turned into storage space. From 1896 until the war the Academy also housed a Széchenyi Museum. Today a Goethe collection comprising about 4000 items is held here. During the war the building was damaged and several pictures and statues were destroyed. In the 1980s the idea was raised that the paintings and statues the Academy owned should be displayed in the former rooms of the Esterházy collection. In 1992 it was decided to establish the Art Collection and in 1994 the rearranged picture gallery opened in seven rooms. Art historian Júlia Szabó was closely involved with its establishment. With Valéria Majoros she arranged the permanent exhibition. Since reopening, the gallery has also hosted several temporary exhibitions. There are further plans for periodic displays, though these have been disrupted by organisational changes.