From storage to open display

The Works of Art Project of the National Trust for Monuments

MúzeumCafé 29.

Amidst the storms of the last century the chances for ‘survival’ for works of art which managed to get into public collections were greater than for those that didn’t. This is particularly true for the furnishings, art treasures and libraries of palaces and mansions. In 1981, according to the mansion project initiated in the late Kádár era, the number of large mansions completely ruined after 1945 surpassed fifty. Today we speak of about 800 protected edifices, but there’s no point in embellishing their situation, since in an appropriate international comparison of classic mansions there are maybe just 60 or 70 buildings of world standard. What remains is protected and the former artistic features associated with the mansions are recreated, which requires the cooperation of institutes administering the different types of assets. The mission of the stately buildings cannot be realised without bringing together their dispersed art treasures and replacing their destroyed furnishings. The aim of the Works of Art Project is to promote close cooperation between the Trust and domestic public collections in relation to historical objects held in museum storage, and to put them to a fitting use. If we try to typify these treasures, firstly we can highlight the relics related to the history of a given building or that of the family which owned the mansion. Assets which have been destroyed obviously cannot be replaced in a direct manner, but art objects suitable for the historic building can be employed. Finally, self-contained collections or part collections can find a home in stately buildings, even if they don’t have any exact historical connection but are appropriate for displaying in a certain listed building.