A museum of wonders, continuously struggling to survive
MúzeumCafé 28.
Displaying wonders of an age is how the Miksa Róth Memorial Museum in Budapest is often described. It opened in 1999 but not until 2005 was the former apartment block fully converted into a museum. The last family member, Amália Róth, lived here until 1989. Her great wish was for her parental home to preserve the memory of her father. The two-storey building itself is listed. Róth bought it from furniture manufacturer Sámuel Gelb in 1911 and transformed it by creating a stained-glass and mosaic workshop. From 1897 Róth established the art of mosaic in Hungary. He and his friend Miklós Zsolnay made porcelain-based eosin mosaic tiles – you can see examples in the museum today. Róth, the vice-president of the Hungarian Applied Arts Association for 40 years, was a public figure who believed modernisation would elevate Hungary. Today one of the floors preserves three rooms in the condition they were when occupied by the Róths – a Jewish family living in Hungary for several generations. Both Miksa’s father and grandfather were glaziers. The latter’s property was confiscated after the 1848 War of Independence since he had financially supported the revolution. Up to 1914 Róth could hardly manage to secure regular orders, then the war set him back and the economic crisis of the 1920s finally ruined his business. He only got major commissions when Kunó Klebelsberg, the education minister, offered him work on the National Archives and the universities of Pécs and Szeged, including the coloured windows of the latter. The museum’s exhibition includes 50 stained-glass items. No more than 15% of Róth’s entire oeuvre has survived intact. The Elizabeth Town district authority has always acknowledged the institution’s importance and every year covers its basic running costs. Finance for the collection however has to be raised from sponsorship.