A vanished dream world
The Grassalkovich Mansion’s Hatvany era
MúzeumCafé 33.
To write about the condition of the Grassalkovich Mansion in Hatvan during its Hatvany era is sad and gratifying at the same time. It is sad because the destruction and conversions due to function changes during and after World War II almost completely destroyed the mansion’s historically built spaces and ruined its interiors. It is gratifying because the era is the period which is best documented: as a result of more or less reliable recollections, excellent photos and the research of recent decades, historical data are available which can help reconstruct the destroyed interiors, either virtually or in reality. The mansion stands in the centre of Hatvan. Ignác Deutsch and his wife Teréz Abelsberg, who bought the estate, only visited the considerably run-down mansion occasionally. For them the estate, not the mansion, was important. Renewal of the mansion and turning it into a lavishly furbished country residence was left to Sándor Hatvany-Deutsch and his children, who shaped the building and its surroundings to their liking between 1901 and 1939 while keeping its original forms. A letter sent to Irén Hatvany referred to the interior depicted in photos from the 20s and 30s as a “dream world about to vanish”. Following the plunder and destruction of the mansion in several waves beginning in late 1944, the National Committee of Listed Buildings surveyed its condition in 1947 and 1949, reporting that “the fittings and the furnishings have been entirely ruined”. What remained was destroyed by conversion of the mansion into an educational establishment and then a hospital in the following decades. The building has stood empty since the hospital moved out 20 years ago. According to a government decree, a national hunting museum will open here.