Budapest's Finest 2019 Autumn

The capital of ruin pubs

Rubens’s antique heroes

The MYsTery of pearls and silks FREE PUBLIC ATION

Teréz and Erzsébetváros revealed

AUTUMN | 2019

The Treasure Cave from the 1,001 Nights

The five star city Guide

The PArisi Udvar Hotel Budapest is open

© 2019 KÖZTI ZRt

Photo:© Brigitta Vajk

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader, An architect friend of mine once told me that when he was a chief architect, he loved seeing construction cranes across the city from his office window. That would not be a great sight, I told him in disbelief. He just smiled in response, but where cranes appear a house is built, an empty lot disappears, and a wound is healed as the city develops. I came to understand that he was right.

In Budapest there was nearly no neighbourhood or district that did not suffer from the storms of history. The end of the war, the defeat of the revolution, all of them left a mark on the city in the form of damaged buildings. A number of empty lots were located across the city, used as temporary parking lots in the historical centre, or abandoned to become overgrown with weeds in the outer areas. In recent years, the cranes have reappeared in the city’s skyline, as the drive for urban development accelerated.

Public buildings and investments are always the flagships of development. The Ludovika Campus was created, featuring a renovated listed building and many new ones, along with a revitalised park to everyone’s delight. The MOME Campus will be rejuvenated with new educational buildings, and the Castle Garden Bazaar, which was practically dead for nearly a century is now filled with life. The Liget Project, one of Europe's largest cultural projects, is underway as new cultural buildings are erected and the neglected City Park is rehabilitated. Our new national stadium, the Puskás Aréna will further strengthen Budapest’s position on Europe’s sport and cultural map, and this is only a few of the many projects currently being undertaken.

Among each other, architects always mention the Public Works Council, which oversaw developments in the final third of the 19th century and early 20th century as Budapest developed into a world-famous metropolis. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Budapest Public Development Council was formed, the activities of which posterity may also fondly look back upon.

György Skardelli Miklós Ybl Prize-winning architect

Dear Guests, Autumn is traditionally when the harvest occurs in nature, and for city dwellers it is the season for reflection. Budapest saw significant achievements over the summer. In addition to our cultural programmes, I would also like to highlight the large-scale city developments, thanks to the shared vision of the municipal leadership and the national government, which clearly and continuously makes the capital face challenges, thus inspiring it to shine on the international stage.

This issue also proudly presents Budapest’s rich cultural life and the city’s momentous development, which is derived from the creative powers of the dynamic and active people who live in this metropolis.

New exhibitions, film and theatre premieres, fresh art and international sporting events await audiences this autumn, either on their own or as part of a smaller or larger festival. The 28th CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival, one of the region’s most important artistic event series will offer those in Budapest something to see, hear or watch across 17 days starting on 4 October. Audiences can become acquainted with international celebrities, as well as Hungarian artists and performers who have won awards or are on the cusp of their breakthroughs.

On the evening of 16 November, we will celebrate the capital, Budapest, for it was on 17 November, 1873 that Pest, Buda and Óbuda united to create this modern city. In honour of this day the Night of Music will feature classical but relaxed mini concerts by prestigious musicians at popular entertainment venues.

The city has changed a lot over the previous 150 years, growing larger and more diverse, but it has nonetheless preserved its unique character and culture as it caught up to other European metropolises. In 2019 Budapest won the “European Best Destination” vote, and it has certainly lived up to that honour.

Teodóra Bán Director Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre 1

AUTUMN | 2019

Contents

4

Teréz and Erzsébetváros revealed

Alleyways and promenades A second downtown from the upper suburb Between East and West

Cultural quarter

Otto Wagner’s Budapest synagogue

City Guide

28 A portrait of Péter Eötvös

Perfume Chef – fragrances served

22

40

Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest 42 CELENI 45 An autumn for world-class sports 48 Turn of the century Budapest in the City Park 52 Fragrances served 55 Mazel Tov 58 The capital of ruin pubs 61 Programme corner 64

On the cover: Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest (Photo:© Eszter Gordon)

To see the location on the map, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.

2

6 18

Au revoir 24 Father and son – two languages 26 From a theatre perspective 28 In the shadow of history – Mieczysław Weinberg 100 30 "Tales are useful for the human soul" – Ilona Dobszay-Meskó 32 Dimitri de Perrot in the Trafó 34 Rubens - painter and diplomat 36 From celebratory music to a memorial concert – Ferenc Snétberger 38

18

55

4

anno 1935

THE BEST DOBOS CAKE Szamos Gourmet House

SzamosGourmetHaz | www.szamos.hu | Tel.: +36 30 570 5973 Budapest, 5th district, Vรกci street 1. (Enterance: Deรกk Ferenc street 5.)

4 Photo:Š Eszter Gordon

Alleyways & promenades Terézváros and Erzsébetváros are proper twins: they developed between the walled city of Pest and the area of the city that has preserved nature’s proximity for centuries, today’s City Park. The two districts are sisters both in terms of their small size and high population density.

Located just outside what is today known as the historical downtown, the area began to be increasingly built-up and populated from the late 1700s onwards and developed into the country’s burgher epicentre. In 1873, Buda, Óbuda and Pest merged to form Budapest.

During this era of fast-paced expansion, today's sixth and seventh districts developed alongside each other seemingly in competition to become emblematic parts of the modern city.

Shipping on the Danube, telegraph traffic, the rail transportation of goods, and scientific and cultural life came together in the “new” capital, at once and forever taking the place of Székesfehérvár, Buda and Pozsony in the Hungarian State’s history.

The Moorish-style Neolog synagogue, the largest in Europe and the second largest synagogue in the world, was built between 1854 and 1859 according to the plans of Viennese architect Ludwig Förster

5

A second downtown from the Upper Suburb Text: Marcell Somogyi

Photo:© István Práczky

The area beyond the boundaries of old Pest, towards the City Park (once known as Ökrösdûlô and later as the City Forest), was known as the Upper Suburb in the 18th century. Green gardens grew outside the city walls, and those who could not find a place to live in old Pest due to overcrowding began to build houses on the outskirts of the city. In parallel with population growth, more and more large plots of land were parcelled. Traces of this "village preceding the town" are still visible in some places to this day.

Odd and even One of the most extraordinary sights of the Jewish Quarter in Erzsébetváros (“Elisabethtown”) is the narrow and at points seemingly only alley-wide Kazinczy Street, which was originally a 6

service route to reach the small blocks of land created by parcelling. The unusual curve at the beginning of Dohány Street evokes the memory of a road to the north of present-day Károly Boulevard and Rákóczi Road that went around the former market square. The urbanisation process acceler-

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város increasing role in the development of Terézváros, and thus ensured the development of the road to today’s City Park.

From the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, this responsibility was borne by Király Street, but owing to the dense urbanisation of this part of the city and its high traffic, the former vineyard road proved unsuited to this task.

Construction began on today’s Andrássy Avenue, the wide tree-lined avenue that extends to the City Park, in 1871. The great 19th century poet János Arany made clear in his poem “Ének a pesti ligetrôl” (“Song of the Pest Grove”) that this promenade, which was opened in 1877 with the name Sugár Avenue, was, owing to its large width and lack of trees a much warmer and dustier pathway that the road it was built to replace. In fairness, Arany wrote of Király Street that “it stinks, like the death of a pest”. In view of the tight spaces, the stores that opened alongside each other as commerce rapidly expanded during the century, along with the packed storage facilities and bad hygienic conditions of the time, this is absolutely believable.

The church at Rozsák Square is dedicated to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and was designed by the architect Imre Steindl, who also designed the Parliament building

Photo:© Eszter Gordon

ated during the reign of Maria Theresa from 17401780, thus it is no coincident that this municipality in today's Districts VI and VII became known as Terézváros (“Theresatown”) in 1777.

The southern half of Terézváros was detached in 1882 and took the name of Emperor Franz Joseph’s consort, Empress Elisabeth. Ever since, Király Street has been the boundary between the districts: the even side belongs to Terézváros, while the odd side belongs to Erzsébetváros. In Terézváros a Roman Catholic parish has operated since 1777, and since 1809 a baroque church has stood on the corner of Király and Nagymezô Streets. An architectural rarity, the middle tower still has its firefighting balcony to this day. The church’s steeple was designed by Miklós Ybl, the outstanding figure of 19th century Hungarian architecture, who planned many exceptional buildings (including the Castle Garden Bazaar and St. Stephen's Basilica).

Owing to Maria Theresa’s Forest Regulation Ordinance of 1770, and the new rules on planting and tree care by her son Joseph II, the Liget was revived in the latter half of the 1700s. Consequently, the desire to keep nature accessible played an

7

Photo:© István Práczky

The Temple of Heroes erected in memory of the Jewish heroes from World War I

Top right: The ornamented interior of the Great Synagogue was designed by Frigyes Feszl, the architect of the Vigadó Concert Hall

Bottom right: The Orthodox synagogue was built according to the plans of Sándor and Béla Löffler

8

The Jewish Quarter The literature describing Király Street and its surroundings mentions an entertainment quarter and a caravanserai. According to the renowned architect Dezsô Ekler, who has studied the area's urban development and architecture, “If anyone knows the history of the Jews of Central Europe and can recall the former Jewish towns on the north-eastern slopes of the Carpathians, such as Brody, Tarnopol or Czernowitz, the vanished world of the Galician Jewish shtetl, then you have to feel that this part of Pest has preserved something of that atmosphere.” At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, this faith-based community was largely concentrated in an area of today's Erzsébetváros, and those arriving with the great immigration waves from Eastern Europe in the second half of the 1800s typically also settled here.

Between 1854 and 1859, the Moorish-style Neolog synagogue in Dohány Street, the largest in Europe and the second largest synagogue in the world, was built according to the design of the Viennese architect Ludwig Förster. The interior was designed by Frigyes Feszl, the famous architect

of Pest’s Vigadó Concert Hall. To this day it remains the central gate to the Jewish Quarter. One of the tragedies of history is that the World War II-era ghetto, which was established in 1944, also had one of its entrances here. (A memorial depicting the former ghetto surrounded by Károly Boulevard, Dohány, Kertész and Király Streets can be seen on the wall at 34 Dohány Street.)

On the Wesselényi Street side of the synagogue is a Bauhaus “Temple of Heroes” built in memory of the Jewish heroes of World War I. It was on this same side that the house in which Theodor Herzl, who first conceived of the modern Jewish state (and is also the cousin of the writer Jenô Heltai) was born. Today the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives stands in its place. The garden of the synagogue also serves as a cemetery: at the end of World War II thousands of victims were buried here. The Holocaust Memorial Park is located next to the garden. This is where the memorial in the shape of a weeping willow stands. The names of those who perished can be engraved onto its leaves.

The Emanuel Foundation, launched by Tony Curtis, the world-famous actor of Hungarian background, supported it creation.

Photo:© Eszter Gordon

Photo:© Krisztián Bódis

LISZ Tz város Teré FERENCand BUDAPEST Er z sébe NEMZE t város TKÖZI REPÜLÔTÉR

9

Top right: The patron and art collector Lajos Ernst built the first five-story building in Budapest at 8 Nagymezô Street, which was at once a residential building, museum and movie theatre. Today it hosts the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center

Bottom right: A typical turn-of-the-century residential building in the “Chicago” quarter near the Keleti Railway Station

the main street of the “Nightlife Quarter” over the past few years, in competition with the completely renovated Gozsdu Court. The latter of these takes us back to the years before World War I. Seven connected buildings with six courtyards located between 13 Király Street and 16 Dob Street were built between 1900-1904 by the foundation developed by Manó Gozsdu, the wealthy Romanian lawyer and judge who was a member of the Upper House of the National Assembly. The money obtained through rents was meant to support youths of the Eastern Orthodox faith in Hungary and Transylvania.

But even before the entertainment and hospitality establishments in Kazinczy Street and Gozsdu Court opened their doors, the currently closed Kispipa Restaurant in 38 Akácfa Street served traditional gourmet cuisine. This was where Rezsô Seress, the composer of the world-famous “Gloomy Sunday” spent the final 10 years of his life playing piano. A special splash of colour is the Kádár Étkezde Restaurant at 9 Klauzál Square, which preserves the traditional world of small cooking houses undisturbed.

Photo:© István Práczky

The arch of the monumental Madách Building at the beginning of the unfinished radial road

Before we explore the other two points of the "synagogue triangle", it is worth taking a short detour to 7 Károly Boulevard, which preserves important memories of theatre history: the Hacker Szála Theatre was located in the garden of today's modern building, where Hungarian-language performances were held from 1809, and to which the memories of performances by the second Hungarian theatre company are tied. The theatre was demolished in the 19th century, and the building that faced the boulevard was itself demolished in 1966-1967. A few minutes’ walk from here you can find the Rumbach Street Synagogue, built to serve the Status Quo (moderate conservative) denomination, which is described in more detail from page 18.

The Kazinczy Street Synagogue, which opened in 1913, was built by the Orthodox, according to the plans of Sándor and Béla Löffler, in an art nouveau style, and was renovated at the turn of the millennium. The buildings surrounding it feature a kosher restaurant, butcher and matzah bakery.

Kazinczy Street, which passes before the synagogue as it winds its way along, has also served as

10

Photo:© Eszter Gordon

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város

Klauzal Square, unlike the organic development of Kazinczy Street and its surrounding area, was born on a planner’s table: following the Great Flood of 1838, Pest’s city planners tried to make this densely built quarter a little airier and more transparent. That is how Wesselényi Street was created. Madách Square preserves the memory of another, less successful plan, which features a complex of eleven buildings that stretches from 13-25 Károly Boulevard, extending northeast to Rumbach Sebestyén Street. The Erzsébet Avenue was planned to begin here, which (next to Andrassy Avenue and Király Street), would have been a new thoroughfare from the centre to the northeast, if not all the way to the City Park, then at least along the axis of Dob Street to the intersection of Damjanich and Rottenbiller Streets. The war put an end to these plans, and the development of it stopped. After 1956 some new buildings were still erected, but the road that today bears the name of the poet Imre Madách ultimately ends after two blocks.

At the other end of this never-built boulevard near the City Park is an example of successful city plan-

Photo:© István Práczky

The unbuilt avenue

11

ning. This is the area famously known as Chicago, which is bordered by Damjanich and Rottenbiller Streets, and Thököly and Dózsa György Roads.

Contrary to popular belief, the name was not received due to poor public safety – for at the time its namesake was not known for crime either – but because at the end of the 19th century it developed as quickly as its American “uncle”.

Within this rectangle at 26 Nefelejcs Street we can find the Miksa Róth Memorial House, dedicated to the outstanding glass painter of the pre-war period. The unmatched beauty of Róth’s works, which were originally historicist in style, then later featured art nouveau and art deco elements, can be seen from the Hungarian Parliament Building and the Benedictine Archabbey of Pannonhalma, to Oslo and Mexico City, among others places. Róth also created the windows of the nearby neo-Gothic parish church of St. Elizabeth in 1901 at Rozsák Square, which is a well-known work by the architect Imre Steindl, who also designed the parliament building. The works of Róth decorate the nearby neo-Gothic Lutheran church and high school building complex on Városligeti Avenue, which was built according to the plans of Samu Pecz from 1904-1905. (As mentioned in the summer edition of Budapest's Finest, the gymnasium counts among its alumni the Nobel Prize winners John Harsanyi and Eugene Wigner, as well as John von Neumann, the father of the computer.) The Reformed Church, also on Városligeti Avenue, was designed by Aladár Árkay and built in 1913, and together with windows by Róth is one of the most successful sacred art nouveau buildings in Hungary. This avenue also features the recently renovated Kôrössy Villa, whose architect Albert Kôrössy was also one of the illustrious masters of Hungarian art nouveau. It too features windows from Róth’s studio.

Photo:© István Práczky

Beautifying palaces of culture

12

The round ceiling of the Hungarian State Opera House’s grand auditorium is decorated by a monumental fresco titled the Apotheosis of Music. The glass chandelier beneath it once contained 500 gas lamps.

This neo-renaissance building designed by Miklós Ybl is currently being completely renovated and will reopen in 2020

Another art nouveau wonder, the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, also features Róth’s amazing decorative glass and glass mosaic works. The building, which was designed by Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl and dedicated in 1907, has multiple parts worthy of attention, such as the grandiose statue of Ferenc Liszt above the main entrance by the sculptor Alajos Strobl, or the fresco “A Mûvészet Forássa” (“The Spring of Art”)

by Aladár Körösfôi-Kriesch, as well as the eosin-glazed Zsolnay tiles and decorations.

The world-renowned composer Ferenc Liszt – one of the greatest figures of 19th century romantic music – launched and chaired the institution in 1875, which was originally not located here, but near the Pest bridgehead of Elisabeth Bridge, in the vicinity

Photo:© Eszter Gordon

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város

of Liszt's apartment. The Music Academy operated at its original place until 1879. As previously mentioned, the imposing Sugár Avenue was built from 1871, and opened in 1876. The Hungarian Royal Academy of Music moved from Hal Square to the building at today’s 67 Andrássy Avenue. Its first director was Ferenc Erkel, the founder of the Hungarian National Opera and the composer of the music to the Hungarian national anthem. Its entrance is at 35 Vörösmarty Street. The neoRenaissance palace of the old Academy of Music awaits visitors today as the Ferenc Liszt Memorial Museum and Research Centre.

The "Champs-Élysées" of Pest runs from Erzsébet Square to Heroes’ Square, and beneath it the

Millennium Underground Railway was built in 1896, which is the first underground and electric railway on the continent, and is now known as Metro Line 1, with trains operating from Vörösmarty Square to Mexikói Road. The length of Andrássy Avenue is nearly 2.5 kilometres and can be divided into four sections. The first runs to Oktogon, where the buildings are right next to each other and are three or four-stories in height, with the ground floor usually containing shops, cafes or restaurants.

The Hungarian State Opera was built at number 22. This palace of music dedicated in 1884 was designed by Miklós Ybl, who along with several other architects was commissioned to plan oth-

This palace of music designed by Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl was completed in 1907. The building on Liszt Ferenc Square opened as the Royal Academy of Music and is today named after Ferenc Liszt

13

Photo:© lisztmuseum.hu

Hungarian higher education in music began at Hal Square near Ferenc Liszt’s apartment. From there it moved to Sugár Avenue, today known as Andrássy Avenue.

Academy of Music Principle Ferenc Erkel and President Ferenc Liszt also lived in the building.

The picture is of Liszt’s room with the portable practice keyboard Bottom right: The Mai Manó House is located opposite the Budapest Operetta Theatre. Manó Mai, the building’s first owner, was the photographer for the royal and imperial court.

The façade was made from glazed pyrogranite, terracotta and yellow-green majolica manufactured by the Zsolnay Factory of Pécs, which features allegorical figures from photography and painting

14

er buildings on the Avenue. Unfortunately, the Opera House is not very visible at the moment due to ongoing reconstruction works (which are scheduled to be completed in 2020). It will certainly be worth returning to admire everything, however, from the small details to its excellent acoustics. The building is fundamentally in the neoRenaissance style, but Ybl also skilfully used other stylistic elements. The ceiling and wall paintings are works by renowned artists such as Károly Lotz, Bertalan Székely, and Mór Than. It is impossible to count how many memorable premieres have occurred within the walls of the building, how many world-famous performers have appeared on the stage, or how many era-defining artists from Erkel to Gustav Mahler, to János Ferencsik or Emil Petrovics have sat in the music director’s chair.

The Drechsler Palace, designed by Ödön Lechner and Gyula Pártos, stands opposite the Opera and opened in 1886. From 1949 to 2002 it functioned as the home of the State Ballet Institute. Following decades of neglect, renovation works are slated to commence shortly. Next to the Opera, a tavern called the Three Ravens operated in the building

at 24 Andrassy Avenue, which during its heyday was where one of the most influential figures of 20th century Hungarian poetry, Endre Ady, was a regular. After the system change, the German literary historian Wilhelm Droste revived it as a coffee house, only to be forced into relocating this legendary institution to 1 Piarista Lane near the Pest bridgehead of the Elisabeth Bridge.

(The Three Ravens hosts multiple events that are part of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival.)

Between Opera and Oktogon, Andrássy Avenue is crossed by Nagymezô Street, which is a proper cultural route: in 1-3 you can find the Béla Bartók Conservatory, which is part of the Academy of Music, and opposite it, in number 8 is located the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center.

At the former location of the legendary Somossy Orfeum, in number 17, is the Budapest Operetta Theatre. The theatre-building team of Fellner and Helmer designed the building, who are known for their Central European theatre architecture from Vienna to Graz and Wiesbaden.

Following the closing of the Király Theatre in 1936, the Operetta Theatre has become the most

Photo:© István Práczky

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város

Photo:© István Práczky

The famous architectural duo Fellner and Helmer’s studio designed the musical theatre on the site of the former Somossy Orfeum. Today the Budapest Operetta Theatre stages classical operettas and musicals

15

Photo:© Krisztián Bódis Photo:© Royal Corinthia Budapest

16

The Corinthia Hotel Budapest is one of the elegant hotels located on the Grand Boulevard

important, at times even only, place to see operettas in the capital. (The Király Theatre once operated from 1903 at the end of Király Street outside the Grand Boulevard at number 71. The greatest triumphs staged in it were the world premiere of the musical comedy János Vitéz by Pongrác Kacsóh, Károly Bakonyi and Jenô Heltai, as well as the Hungarian premiere of Imre Kálmán’s Csárdáskirálynô (Die Csárdásfürstin).

Across from the Operetta Theatre, the Arizona nightclub was popular among the "hedonists” of Pest before the Second World War. The venue’s exciting story was told by Pál Sándor’s film Miss Arizona, starring Marcello Mastroianni and Hanna Schygulla. Today the building features exhibitions as the Manó Mai House plays host to the House of Hungarian Photography, which features a rarity: a sunlit studio.

After Nagymezô Street, passing by Liszt Ferenc Square with its trendy restaurants and cafés and Jókai Square opposite it, we reach the Oktogon.

This octagonal square consisted of a deep pit until the creation of Sugár Avenue. The pit was filled in 1872, after which the construction of the Grand Boulevard that crosses Andrássy Avenue commenced, which was one of the largest urban development projects in Pest during the era of the Dual Monarchy. During this same period the Britannia Hotel at 43 Teréz Boulevard (today

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város the Radisson Blu Béke Hotel) was built, as was the Royal Hotel (now Corinthia Hotel Budapest) at 43-49 Erzsébet Boulevard, and the New York Palace (today the New York Hotel) at 9 Erzsébet Boulevard. The ground floor of the famous New York Palace has operated as a café since opening (known as the Hungária during socialism), which counted among its regulars seemingly every important Hungarian writer from the turn of the century through the 20th.

Returning to Andrássy Avenue, from the Oktogon the road widens, and the second section extending to Kodály Circus features promenades (once meant for horse-riding) along with a service road on each side. Here, in number 69, we can find the building of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts designed by Adolf Láng (also featuring frescoes by Károly Lotz and glass windows by Miksa Róth).

Opposite is 60 Andrássy Avenue. Prior to 1945 the fascist Arrow-Cross Party made it their headquarters, and after the war the communist secret police made it theirs. Today it contains the House of Terror Museum.

On the third stretch from Kodály Circus, the buildings on the avenue still line up in a contiguous manner, but they have gardens out front. One of the giants of the 20th century, the famous composer, folk music researcher, scholar and educator

Zoltán Kodály lived in a building on the corner of the circus for more than four decades. Today his former apartment houses the Zoltán Kodály Memorial Museum and Archive.

On the fourth section starting at Bajza Street, the buildings no longer touch one another, and you can see detached villas with private gardens. A little further in, between the trees of the Epreskert (“Strawberry Garden”) creative work continues in the studios of the great masters of old (Alajos Stróbl, Albert Schickedanz and others) for the complex belongs to the Museum of Fine Arts. The garden’s atmosphere is inspiring and hints at how the neighbourhood could have appeared 150-200 years ago.

The Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts is located at 103 Andrássy Avenue (for more about its history and exhibitions, pick up a copy of this year’s summer edition of Budapest’s Finest). Number 112 houses the KOGART House with its high-quality visual art exhibitions, while 114-116 (also introduced in the summer edition) once belonged to the Weiss-Chorin Family. Andrássy Avenue ends at Heroes’ Square in the City Park, and the Dózsa György Road that defines one end of the City Park also marks the outer perimeter of both Terézváros and Erzsébetváros.

Top left: The Oktogon, where the Grand Boulevard and Andrássy Avenue meet

17

Between East and West

Otto Wagner’s Budapest Synagogue Text: Eszter Götz • Photos: Eszter Gordon

The three great synagogues of Pest’s Jewish Quarter were built within the span of half a century, with all three possessing exceptional architectural and cultural historical value. But while the Neolog Great Synagogue built in 1859 in Dohány Street and the art nouveau temple in Kazinczy Street constructed in 1913 for the Orthodox are well known, the third synagogue in Rumbach Sebestyén Street was closed for 60 years in an abandoned and neglected state, surviving only as a part of the city’s memory. From the autumn of 2019 this, the most unique of the three buildings, will once again welcome visitors.

18

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város The building’s designer, Otto Wagner, who later became the defining figure of Viennese art nouveau, was still at the start of his career in 1872 when he won the tender to construct the temple, and designed the building in the eclectic style popular at the time. Wagner built three temples during his career, from which the Pest synagogue stands out, the construction of which is tied to the opening chapter of the emancipation of the Jews in Hungary. In 1868, when the Hungarian Parliament declared that those of the Jewish faith were fully equal, the hitherto undivided Jewish community suddenly broke into three. In addition to the progressive Neologs and the traditional Orthodox, a new middle of the road Status Quo denomination was founded, who preserved Jewish religious traditions alongside modernisation. This is the smallest community and they were the ones who built the Rumbach Street Synagogue.

Their spiritualism is revealed by the building’s modern structure and eastern character.

Otto Wagner created something truly unique with his ingenious design. The building, which lines up with the street only draws attention with its decorative elements. Its façade with red and sand-coloured lines, which evoke Byzantine patterns, jumps forward in the middle and forms three arches with columns above the entrance. This composition is repeated on the floor above, where open windows sit between the pillars. This space was once occupied by the rabbi's apartment and classrooms, as well as the stairs that led to the basement and the gallery. The middle part of the façade is framed by two small minaret-like corner towers.

19

Although the eastern exterior hints that this is not a simple residential building, its unique beauty is only revealed behind the large wrought iron gate. Wagner's Orthodox-styled synagogue has an octagonal shape, and he set the bima, from where the Torah is read, on a small pedestal in the centre. Seven of the sides are surrounded by a women's gallery upstairs. On the east-facing side, the Torah ark domed with glass cassettes featuring the Star of David is located behind a steel-ornamented oak door.

The interior is illuminated by the light that pours in through the coloured circular windows that are akin to the rose windows of a cathedral, so that as the sun travels around the synagogue the light entering it changes according to the colours of the windows. The gallery and curved arcades above it were supported by filigree, lace-decorated wrought iron columns. The plaster wall surface and the wooden galleries were covered in blue and red plant ornamentation and Moorish-styled bugleherb-shaped gilding, with the steel pillars that split the walls also golden in colour. In the roof structure, ornate wooden cassettes run towards the ceiling’s central motif of flower petals.

The lace-like beauty of Solomon's Temple as described in the Bible along with Moorish architecture both offered inspiration for the rich decorations, while the ceiling structure supported by slender metal columns was a true technical feat for its era.

The splendour and eastern style of the whole building emphasises the origins of Judaism, but by not being hidden but facing the street, the building also expressed Judaism’s participation in the cultural life of modern Budapest.

20

Teré z város and Er z sébe t város The synagogue was also an important part of Otto Wagner’s life. Although he continued to design in the historicist school for the next two decades until the mid-1890s, it was at the turn of the century that he became one of the defining figures of Viennese art nouveau, before changing in 1907 to puritan and modern designs for his buildings.

The Rumbach Street Synagogue was very popular and until 1942 it was attended by a prestigious Jewish community. Later in the war it became a collection centre for non-Budapest Jews. After the majority of Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust, from 1945 onwards some of the remaining members of the congregation repaired the war damage, but by 1956 the temple was without worshippers. Some years later it fell into life-threatening disrepair and was closed, after which a slow and shameful decay ensued.

After multiple changes of ownership, reconstruction, and periods of downtime, the lengthy reconstruction process was just recently completed. Following the design of the architects Tamás Kônig and Péter Wagner, the synagogue can once again reveal the same appearance that it had when it opened almost 150 years ago. The main entrance facing the street has remained closed, with a gate

now open to the left of the central part, so that the interior of the temple can be approached from the side and not from the front. The basement contains a cloakroom, café and space for events, while the upper floor will contain a museum and the converted attic will feature study rooms. The museum’s most important "exhibition subject" will be the synagogue itself, which since it has not had a congregation for over 60 years, will most likely only be open during the major Jewish holidays. For this reason, the architects designed the bima so that it can be lowered into the basement, and thus the hall with its excellent acoustics can also host concerts.

There is another entrance from the street, which takes you directly around the temple to the garden.

This open space surrounded by the walls of the neighbouring buildings offers another surprise: its fruit beds and green areas were planted with the vegetation mentioned in the Old Testament. The fragile beauty of the closed garden suggests that it was not only an architectural masterpiece that was rebuilt. With the Jewish cultural renaissance of the 1990s and the Jewish Quarter of Pest becoming a popular tourist destination, the Rumbach Street Synagogue (as the House of Cohabitation) can offer festivals new opportunities.

21

22

Photo: © Lucien Hervé Archives, Paris © Lucien Hervé

Cultural Quarter Bold works of art for the autumn cultural season, commemorations of important anniversaries, stars performing classical and pop music on stages and new artistic solutions – a diverse programme once again awaits tourists and city residents at the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival.

The opening performance of the Budapest concert season is the traditional Bartók concert by the National Philharmonic Orchestra. It is held each year on 25 September, the eve of the anniversary of Bartók’s death, in Müpa Budapest’s Béla Bartók National Concert Hall.

The Bridging Europe festival initiated by the Budapest Festival Orchestra will present Italian works between 18-27 September, including Monteverdi’s La favola d'Orfeo, which originally premiered in 1607 before an audience in Mantua.

Lastly, the Kunsthalle’s curators assembled a collection of works by four primarily postmodernist painters. The paintings by László Szotyory, Gyula Konkoly, Gábor Lajta and Attila Kondor depict a vibrant and lyrical world.

Lucien Hervé: Au bord de le Seine (1952)

23

04–20

October

2019

Au revoir!

Photographers of Hungarian background in France An important photographic exhibition of European culture will open in the Budapest History Museum – Castle Museum at the start of the CAFe Budapest Festival on 4 October.

More than 200 works by 30 photographers can be seen, including those

by André Kertész, Brassaï, Robert Capa and Lucien Hervé.

The exhibition cases will contain printed materials, colour magazines and books.

Photo:© Gabriella Cseh

Text: Györgyi Orbán began their careers in Budapest, while others did so only in Paris. The artists are presented in chronological order, but photographs by contemporary youths will be presented among the big names, and the curators sought to find links between the photographers’ works.

Cserba and Cseh considered it important to highlight André Kertész, and the exhibition begins with him, because many Hungarians were tied to him and considered him a source of inspiration. He was also exceptional as a person, helping new arrivals with everything. The exhibition will show three of his images that have not been previously exhibited. The French National Archives recently found an envelope containing nine of Kertész’s photos taken before he emigrated. These photos contain family scenes from Szigetbecse, but the envelope also contained letters written to his mother and correspondence with his French publisher. The photos and correspondence will also be exhibited. The French hold Kertész’s oeuvre in high regard, and currently there is also an exhibition in Paris at the Jeu de Paume museum.

Brassaï’s studio in Paris (2018)

Hungarian photographers went to Paris mainly in the 1920 and 30s, but many from the newer generations also followed these “elder statesmen”. Owing to these individuals, the Hungarian arts were highly regarded between the two world wars in European and French culture.

The two Parisian curators, the art historian and art writer Julia Cserba, and the photographer and photo historian Gabriella Cseh compiled an exhibition that has never before been seen in this form. This is the first occasion where the artists are presented so completely and together. Some of them 24

The photographer Brassaï, who hailed from Brassó (today Bras˛ov, Romania) and was born as Gyula Halász Jr, had an illustrious career and is considered one of the greats from the history of photography. He worked as a journalist and art dealer in Paris before becoming friends with André Kertész, from whom he learned the photography trade. Brassaï’s pictures of Paris at night were a breakthrough success. Picasso asked him to take photographs of his sculptures, a job he continued for three decades, and their professional relationship grew into friendship over the years.

Brassaï was also good friends with the photographer, sculptor, painter and graphic designer Ervin Marton. In Paris, Marton first earned money for a living by taking family photos, and during World War II he participated in the French Resistance, preparing posters, fliers and false papers to deserters. His art reached its peak in the 1950s and 60s with his street photography, which excellently captured the magical atmosphere of Paris through the people in his pictures. Marton produced countless portraits of notable artists and writers, including Chagall as he wrote in his diary while leaning against a tree, as well as Camus, Cocteau and Matisse.

A third of the exhibited works were produced by women.

Among them are André Rogi (Rózsi Klein), the first wife of

Ervin Marton: self-portrait

Photo:© Edvin Marton Estate

Cultur al quarter

Detvay Jenô Eugène

André Kertész, who took excellent portraits of contemporary French artists such as Cézanne, Picasso and Chagall. Ergy Landau (Erzsi Landau) was already established in Budapest before heading to Paris, and had photographed the first Hungarian beauty queen, Böske Simon. Together with a number of her students, Nora Dumas (Nóra Kelenföldi Telkes) became a central figure in Paris. Ylla (Kamilla Koffler), who became famous for her animal photography, also worked alongside Dumas. In the early 1950s, she went to China and Mongolia and a book was published about her trip, which will also be shown in the Budapest exhibition.

The exhibition contains photos taken in the studios of the Francebased photographers and evokes that memorable era. For example, Brassaï’s studio was captured on film moments before it was closed down.

Among the works of contemporary creators who have lived in France for some time, there are pictures by Josef Nadj ( József Nagy) and Franjo Aatoth, as well as Jeno Eugène Detvay’s photos produced with modern techniques. On 3 October on the day before the exhibition opens, the photo historian Michel Frizot will hold a lecture in the French Institute of Budapest together with the participation of French professionals.

The photographic exhibition will run until 5 January 2020 and was made possible with the cooperation of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Musée Nicéphore-Niépce in Chalon-sur-Saône and the media and photo collection of the Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine, as well as the photo archives of the Hungarian National Museum, the Petôfi Literary Museum and the Hungarian National Gallery.

The photographer Jenô Detvay, known in France as Jeno Eugène Detvay, left Hungary in 1980, due to a thirst for adventure, according to his own words. As a young man interested in the arts, he wanted to see what was happening in the West.

What preceded this decision was that Detvay would regularly visit the Ganz-MÁVAG Cultural House in the 1970s, where there was a major avant-garde art scene. The visual artist and theoretician Miklós Erdély (1928-1986) and the painter Dóra Maurer led study groups there.

At that time those arriving from Eastern Europe were assisted by various organisations, and received accommodation and free language courses. In Paris Detvay met his old friend and spiritual companion, the artist András Szlavik, who had already lived there for some time. He personally knew Lucien Hervé, and was in contact with his son Rodolf, because he was excited by the slightly unusual technical methods that could "damage" the negative.

In Paris Detvay wandered the rundown parts of the city, photographing the houses and factories that are no longer there, on the site of which residential blocks were later built. Frigyes Funtek, the Hungarian actor and director living in France invited him to Hungary in 1991 to photograph the rehearsal of István Örkény's Tóték in the National Theatre. Since then he has “commuted” between Paris and Budapest.

In the 1990s he founded a gallery in Pest to showcase contemporary Hungarian photography. The Bolt Galéria operated for 4 years, and Detvay held 69 exhibitions, issuing a catalogue for each. He published two large books titled Kortárs magyar fotográfia (Contemporary Hungarian Photography), but the gallery closed due to insufficient support. He preserved the materials and made them available online (c3. hu/~bolt).

Detvay’s works are preserved in public collections across France. Today he spends more of his time in Hungary and continues to exhibit his work. On 15 March 2019 Jenô Detvay was awarded the Rudolf Balogh Prize.

25

Father and son – two languages The FUGA Budapest Centre of Architecture will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its founding along with the next 10 years through exhibitions and book launches within the framework of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival. The centre was founded 10 years ago to strengthen the relationship between architecture and its associated arts.

Text: Györgyi Orbán Photo:© Bauhaus Archiv

black and white images of the tower’s inner steel structure, while his son was captivated by the exterior. Lucien Hervé was the founder of architectural photography, and was the regular photographer for Le Corbusier, the master of modern French architecture, for 16 years. The exhibition shows how he repeatedly cropped two frieze photos - one from the chateau of Versailles, and the other from the 18th-century observatory in the Indian city of Jaipur, thereby creating new images from that. Lucien’s originality lies in his strict and geometric clipping which focuses on the contrasts between light and shadow.

In addition to Rodolf Hervé’s photograph of the Eiffel Tower, other colourful and distinctive works will be displayed. He did a lot of post-processing with his images, thereby creating an expressive and surreal world. From 1989 onward, Rodolf lived in Budapest for a few years and was a leading figure in the underground art world.

Marcell Breuer

Titled Metamorphosis, the exhibition will focus on two photographers, László Elkán (1910-2007), who was born in Hódmezôvásárhely and lived in France, becoming world-famous as Lucien Hervé, and his son, Rodolf Hervé (1957-2000).

Visitors can see more than 50 photographs between 7 October and 4 November. The architect Bálint Nagy, who is FUGA’s creative director, said that the materials were selected by the art historian Imola Gebauer and Judit Hervé.

Avoiding well-known images from being displayed in this exhibition was an important aspect. Two types of themes will be explored, but each will feature reconstruction and the reimagining of a theme. Both themes will consist of materials that were not previously exhibited in Hungary, Bálint Nagy added. Both father and son were fascinated by and photographed the Eiffel tower. The father’s photographs are dominated by 26

FUGA also has on its autumn calendar (on 7 October, World Architecture Day) an exhibition and book launch about the life of the designer and architect Marcell Breuer (1902-1981) who was of Hungarian background. Robert McCarter, who is a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and is an architect and architecture historian who wrote a monograph on Breuer, will hold a lecture that day. Marcell Breuer is among the 10 best-known architects in the world. His work influenced the United States, his wood-framed houses can be found all over America, and his oeuvre is highly regarded, Nagy emphasised. Péter Magyar, the Hungarian architect living in the United States, drew Nagy’s attention to McCarter’s 2016 monograph. The great hall in FUGA was named after the Bauhaus master from Pécs in 2010, and a large exhibition was also held on the works of Hungarian architectural students who had studied the public buildings of Marcell Breuer in the United States on a scholarship.

McCarter was invited to speak at the FUGA anniversary. His book on Breuer was released in 2016, and was also published by the Atlantisz Publishing House in Hungary. Marcell Breuer studied carpentry at the Bauhaus School in Weimar and, as a first-year student, he hand-carved a five-legged red, blue and gold-painted chair from oak. He made this throne-like chair for Gropius, who led the school. The work, called the “African chair”, was believed lost for 80 years, but it was found and also included in the book. In furniture design the Wassily Chair (1925-28) with a tubular frame brought him worldwide fame.

Cultur al quarter

Photo:© Rodolf Hervé

Photo: © Lucien Hervé Archives, Paris © Lucien Hervé

Lucien Hervé: Jeu de main, Paris (1985)

The Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky was also a Bauhaus-master and colleague, and the chair received the name Wassily after him. Breuer later planned countless buildings in Europe, as well as the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and public and residential buildings in the United States. As Balint Nagy said, in that architectural culture the furniture designer and the architect were not separate.

Rodolf Hervé’s self-portrait

The Marcell Breuer exhibition will be held to kick off FUGA’s next 10 years. Ahead of this the centre contacted the library of the University of Syracuse, which has a large Breuer collection consisting of photos, building drawings, documents, personal objects and correspondence, or about 8,000 items in total. FUGA purchased 60 items from this, and will exhibit part of it, and then the material is planned to become a travelling exhibition that will be displayed in university towns, Nagy concluded.

27

04–20

October

2019

“From a theatre perspective”

Péter Eötvös at the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival Text: Gerda Seres

Fifteen years after its Paris premiere, Peter Eötvös's opera Angels in America will be staged in Budapest, although Eötvös prefers to call this opus based on Tony Kushner’s play a musical.

Several of Eötvös’s other works will also be performed at the concerts belonging to the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival.

Peter Eötvös’s first opera Three Sisters premiered in 1998, and Angels in America is the composer’s third music drama. “Together with my wife Mari Mezei – who writes the librettos – we always choose a work from among 30-40 topics that is best suited for the opera. With the exception of Paradise Reloaded, all of my operas have been commissioned, so the theatres also have a say, and they select from among the works that I propose”, he said. Angels in America was commissioned by Jean-Pierre Brossmann, as was Three Sisters which premiered in Lyon in 1998. “In the early 2000s, Brossmann was the director of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and commissioned me with composing another opera. I emphasise this, because this partly explains why I chose the work by Tony Kushner. The medium always determines my choices, I have to consider what is most suited in this case to the tastes of the diverse audience of the storied Châtelet.”

Each opera by Péter Eötvös has a very different style. “Three Sisters – if not in musical terms, I would still call traditional, as the characters’ emotions and passions drive the story forward.

My second opera, based on Jean Genet’s Le Balcon, evokes the musical world of the French chansons. In the case of Angels in America, I felt that I would prefer the musical genre to balance out on one hand the American milieu, and on the other the seriousness of the subject.” Eötvös added with a smile that he is the only one willing to call this work, which others call an opera, a musical. “It would not be appropriate to set Kushner's drama to a European musical tradition, because it builds from an entirely different world.” The Châtelet Theatre was pleased with the idea, so they contacted the author, who, as it turned out, had already heard Three Sisters and supported the idea.

Excellent American performers were found for the premiere, such as Barbara Hendricks and Julia Migenes.

It usually takes four or five years from the first meeting to compose an opera, Eötvös adds. “The first one or two years are spent finding a suitable topic, after which the libretto is written, and finally the music. In the case of Angels in America, Marika worked on the libretto for almost two years, and it proved to be a great amount of work to pour the defining moments of the nearly seven-hour drama into the form of an opera.”

28

The composer emphasises that he always insists on leaving contemporary political references out of his operas and concentrates solely on the timeless messages of the story. Thus, while in Kushner’s work the politics of the Reagan era are pronounced, these are completely relegated in the opera. However, all of the libretto's words come from the drama, and did not include any of their own. “I always go to work when I essentially have a finished text. There may be a change in word order - if the language permits it - but that's all.”

Eötvös will begin composing another opera in January. “By the end of next year, I have to finish the opera based on Trilogy by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, and I will essentially only work on this for a year.” The premiere will be at the end of 2021 in Berlin, and the director, Kornél Mundruczó is also of Hungarian background. Jon Fosse’s Trilog y, although written in three sections, is the connected story of a couple in love, who, due to their young age (at the time the story takes place 22 was the age of adulthood in Norway) cannot marry, but their first child is already on its way. They seek refuge for the night, but this is denied to them everywhere, in reference to the moral concerns arising from their unlawful relationship, which the male responds to by committing a series of murders. “The issue of social norms and morality is questioned by the work.

What constitutes a sin: is the refusal of shelter not similarly as serious as the retaliation by almost animalistic instincts?” As Eötvös states, when he works on an opera, it is not merely by adding music, but he essentially immerses himself in the story, and spends his days in the imaginary world.

“For me, the theatre always comes first. With each opera, the first staging reveals how the plot works. I have to see before me which actor arrives from where, how the situation on the stage develops. This is probably why my operas achieve a high number of performances, because I always approach the material from a theatre perspective. The function of the music is to guide the viewer through the emotional changes of the scenes and characters. Keep in mind that I began by composing theatre and film music, and I learned this there.” In response to the suggestion that this would narrow the possible interpretations, Eötvös answered with a definitive no. “I cre-

Photo:© Klaus Rudolph

Cultur al quarter

ate a stage, which in reality provides riches and opportunities.

I have seen almost all of the premieres of my operas, which have been staged with very different directorial concepts. In May, the first premiere of Three Sisters in Russia was held at the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre. According to the director’s concept, the three girls were the products of different eras: Irina represented the 19th, Masha the 20th century and Olga, the oldest, the 21st century. It was a fascinating show. As was the case for the Berlin premiere in June of Angels in America, where art university students staged their own concept.”

In autumn, as part of a co-production, the Neue Oper Wien will be the first to host Matthias Oldag’s staging of Angels in America. This will be followed by the Hungarian premiere at Müpa Budapest on the 10th and 12th of October, with Péter Eötvös conducting the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. “I am very confident about collaborating with the Neue Oper Wien, since this is not the first time that they have staged one of my operas, and they are a very agile and excellent team.”

In addition to the opera, several of Eötvös’s other works are part of the programme of the CAFe Budapest Contemporary

Arts Festival. As part of the Hungarian Music Society’s concert in the Mini Festival, Eötvös’s Sentimental, written for trumpet and flugelhorn for one player will be heard by the audience, while the I Pensieri concert by the newly formed Modern Musici Aquincum will feature an aria from his opera The Golden Dragon, an opus composed for a string quartet and clarinet, as well as a section from Three Sisters.

“I have a lot of concerts across Europe for the rest of the year, with a very colourful repertoire, because although I mainly work with contemporary music, a Mozart overture is also included in one of the evening's programmes.” Over the summer, the composer and conductor stayed in Spain for a longer period, teaching chamber music and the special features of orchestral work to students of varying nationalities at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. This year, 10 of his works were performed at the Santander Festival, while his new violin concerto debuted in Granada. Péter Eötvös is never bored, and the double bass leaning against the wall testifies to this, which is his practice instrument for the double bass competition organised by the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic at the end of the year.

29

04–20

October

2019

In the shadow of history Mieczysław Weinberg 100 Text: Máté Ur

Within the framework of the CAFe Budapest Festival, Linus Roth, Danjulo Ishizaka and José Gallardo will perform selections from an oeuvre still awaiting discovery. The burden of introducing and familiarising the diverse and bountiful Weinberg Estate should mostly be borne by the Eastern European cultural scene.

This could also be called the Weinberg Renaissance if the Polish-Jewish artist with Moldovan roots had had a proper international reputation during his lifetime. Mieczysław Weinberg was born in Warsaw, and life, or rather the winds of history swept him to the Soviet Union, which

he left only once during his life. At the age of 12 he was admitted to the Warsaw Academy of Music, and was considered among its finest talents.

His teacher was Józef Turczyński, who imagined his disciple’s future in the United States, to which he put in considerable efforts. Not only did he ex-

Photo:© Catherine Ashmore

Weinberg’s opera The Passenger became known to the wider public following its premiere at the Bregenz Festival in 2010. Directed by David Pountney

30

pose the young Weinberg to a piano repertoire spanning from Bach to Debussy, but Turczyński also managed to secure a spot for Weinberg through his connections at a Philadelphia studio.

And all of it to no avail, for the New World remained closed to Weinberg owing to his origins.

Following the outbreak of the war, Weinberg continued his studies in Minsk, where he encountered the musical manifestations of his Jewish roots, and was received with great enthusiasm in this city that was a melting pot of nationalities. Weinberg received Soviet citizenship, and it was here that he really became acquainted with his contemporary Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 of 1937. He turned his new experiences and perspectives towards composing, but before he could establish his life, the winds of history interrupted him again. In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and Weinberg fled to Tashkent in Central Asia, where he got a job at the Opera House.

Posterity may be trying to find a grip on Weinberg’s œuvre in a non-judgmental way, and he is frequently seen as a rival to Dmitry Shostakovich, who became well-known due to the various detours of Soviet ideology. But we cannot overlook that the composer who was initially regarded as his role model became a close friend of Weinberg’s, and that it was his intervention that allowed for his Polish friend to eventually find himself in Moscow after those compulsory years spent in Tashkent. Weinberg took on theatrical works, and prepared radio programmes and musical material for circus performances, which he did to get by. He satisfied his internal and artistic needs by composing a world of songs, chamber music and orchestral works. Weinberg’s work flew under the radar of the authorities for a long time, but in 1946 he was accused of pessimism in his compositions, and the performances of some of his songs was also banned. Subsequently, in the Soviet Union of the 1950s, where antisemitism intensified for political reasons, Weinberg could not escape it. He spent 11 weeks in prison, and his life was saved only by Stalin's death. Regaining his freedom, he was respected as a composer and pianist, although he nearly never sat at a piano publicly. His works increasingly garnered interest, and his pieces were played by the most respected Soviet artists. Widespread popularity arrived in 1957 after he wrote the music for the film "The Cranes are Flying", and not by chance, since it was the first Soviet movie to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

After writing nearly 100 chamber and symphonic works, Weinberg also tried himself in the opera genre at the end of the 1960s. The Passenger was inspired by Zofia Posmysz, who ended up in Auschwitz and then Birkenau not for being Jew-

Photo:© Tommy Persson

Cultur al quarter

ish, but due to her resistance activities, and who wrote the story of a meeting between a prisoner and a former Nazi soldier. The staging of The Passenger was to occur in 1968, but Weinberg never saw the work, as the Bolshoi Theatre did not accept it, and the first concert-like performance in Moscow only occurred on the 10th anniversary of his death, in 2006. The true stage premiere of the piece was held at the Bregenz Festival in 2010, which is famous for its monumental stages.

Domestic interest in Weinberg waned during perestroika, but the western world began to discover him at this time. For the artist’s 75th birthday, a series of 17 CDS were issued by a British record label. More than a third of his musical production consists of orchestral works, and he also composed 22 symphonies and numerous competition pieces.

Among his chamber pieces we can count nearly 20 string quartet works, and his songs bring to life the beauty of the Polish, Russian and Yiddish languages. So that the work of Weinberg, who was born 100 years ago will be discovered, understood, and shared, it is probably the responsibility of Eastern Europe. This year's centenary anniversary of his birth is a great occasion for it.

31

04–20

October

2019

“Tales are useful for the human soul”

The story of King Thrushbeard with music Text: Anna Tóth

The composer, conductor and pianist Ilona Dobszay-Meskó established her versatile career by participating in numerous major competitions, and she has been a master teacher since 2016. Her unique attribute is that not only does she wish to pass on all of the knowledge she has acquired immediately, but that she also possesses the proper tools to do so.

Dobszay-Meskó is proud of all her students, for they are all valued musicians and for her the measure of a teacher's success is whether their students are happy with their work. She conducts the only secondary school symphony orchestra in the country at the Bartók Conservatory, which is part of the Liszt Academy of Music. In 2003 she founded the Ventoscala Symphony Orchestra, for which she is the first conductor.

Her compositions are recognized and played, for she has been invited on numerous occasions to submit a compulsory work for instrumental and choir competitions. Dobszay-Meskó has toured the country with her children’s performances of Hansel and Gretel as well as Fehérlófia (Son of the White Mare). This year’s CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival will see the premiere of her new work for children, King Thrushbeard.

What is interesting is that you chose such a little-known Grimm fairy-tale.

Deliberately. The concept is that the whole performance should be as if it were improvised on the spot. This cannot be done with well-known fairy tales, because nobody would believe that we made it up as we performed. The storyteller, Gyôzô Lukácsházi, begins to lament that the musicians did not arrive, and that the performance will not happen. We appear suddenly and begin to make the story up. What should happen? Should the king have a daughter? What should she be like and what should happen to her? And it continues this way, as if nothing was written in advance. It is a surprise for the children – in front of their eyes, the story, the music, the whole performance is born before them. This can only be done with a relatively unknown fairy-tale. In the end everything is "confessed": the actors bow and I introduce myself as the author of the piece.

In addition to all of this, I love the story itself, which is about an arrogant princess rejecting all of her suitors: she looks for a fault in everyone, mocking all of them. His father, therefore, decides to marry her to the next person to appear. This man is a royal dressed in the clothes of a pauper, who the princess mocked the previous day as Thrushbeard. He does not reveal his identity until he has taught her the responsibility of housework and the value of money. At that point he reveals his identity and the princess becomes a queen.

32

I consider the fairy-tale’s lesson to be important, for we can see on a daily basis that for some people nothing is good enough, and that there is a problem with everything. This tale teaches us to distinguish between those things that hold value and those that do not, to differentiate between reality and our imagination, which is very useful for today's children and adults.

How can you collaborate with orchestral musicians and perform such a quasi-improvised work in a credible way?

I am in a fortunate position not to have to search for the right musicians, since I actually wrote this piece for members of the Ventoscala. This ensemble consists of soloist quality artists who although they play in traditional orchestras, some are blessed with special individual abilities. Zoltán Varga or Balázs Bujtor’s acting chops and sparkling sense of humour cannot be realised sitting in an orchestra. They can imitate everything from a film star to a Formula 1 car, and are a true joke factory. Here that’s exactly what you need.

When your piece is played, do you observe with a strict ear that the tempo, dynamics and other musical elements are true to your vision?

In general, there is no need for such a thing. Specifically, my compositions tend to be worked out. If I do not indicate something, then there is a choice. In most cases I trust the artist fully. I love that we are diverse. A dolce means something different to everyone, I do not argue about the interpretation: Sing quietly? With a veiled voice? Does it sound like a buttery voice almost floating in the air? It’s wonderful for me to experience this. If I were to only accept one interpretation, it would be easier to record it once and simply hit the enter button on later occasions. Like ice crystals: there are no two alike, and you cannot get enough of the sight of them. And as the youths arrive, opportunities expand. The metronome number is of course fixed, there is no debate there. If I wish to “give” a little, I indicate how much.

As a conductor or performer, you are on the other side. Is it difficult to not compose, but to perform?

No. Then and there is my other self. I serve the soloists; I implement what is written in the score. And if I sit in a choir, then

I'm one of the eight altos and I don't come up with my own individual ideas.

You have stressed repeatedly that your works for children also captivate adults and that you consider this to be very important.

While Hansel and Gretel is successful owing to its music and not what it has to say, Fehérlófia is also an experience for adults. As a mother and composer, it is important for me that the adult should not be bored. Tales are useful for the human soul; it is no coincidence that story therapy has become popular. The healing in stories has been proven to be useful.

Photo:© Tamás Réthey-Prikkel

Cultur al quarter

33

“Viewers will pair images to the sounds” Myousic in the Trafó Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi

04–20

October

Photo:© Augustin Rebetez

2019

Dimitri de Perrot will arrive to the CAFe Budapest Contemporary Arts Festival with a unique concert theatre performance together with the virtuoso jazz drummer Julian Sartorius.

Consisting solely of sounds, the Swiss DJ, who became an internationally acclaimed sound sculptor, musician and director will explore the narrative power of sound through this performance. Dimitri de Perrot’s name is not unknown to Hungarian audiences: he has previously been a guest of the Trafó together with the dancer Gregor Metzger and the artist Martin Zimmermann as part of the circus productions Gopf, Hoi and Gaff Aff. We reached the experimental artist who was behind the concept, appearance and direction of Myousic at home in Zurich by phone.

34

What was the idea behind Myousic, which places the relationship between the theatre, audience and music in a unique context?

Myousic is a stage music performance without actors, in which viewers can associate images with the sounds themselves.

Since my teenage years I have wished to create a performance in which the sounds are the protagonists. The most important question that came up during the creation of Myousic is our relationship with the present. Between pondering the past and fearing the future, we often forget about the present. It is hard

Cultur al quarter

Did you draw upon your past as a DJ to compose this musical work based on noises, clattering and whispers?

For 15 years my professional life consisted of mixing music in various clubs that ranged from hip-hop and Latin pop to rap and reggae. At one point I toured Europe with a hip-hop group. I took part in a wide variety of musical projects, and mixed music live on stage. Meanwhile, I diligently recorded the various voices in the concert halls, in theatres, in the recording studios, the moments before a singer began, as they took a breath, the rumblings of the audience, the noises of the chairs, clapping, and noises that came from outside. I went through hundreds of hours of recordings for Myousic until I assembled the appropriate soundtrack from my collections. I built the story with my dramaturge colleague, which is an invisible play about background noise. One of the most exciting work processes in my life was the creation of this improvisational performance.

I imagined the audience as a contemporary orchestra that replaces the actors and becomes an active part of the concept. They add their own sounds, silence, and reaction to the production as it happens.

How did Julian Sartorius, the internationally acclaimed jazz drummer, come into the picture?

The real surprise of Myousic, or even miracle is Julian, who magically appears as some sort of wizard from a box on the stage. It is an incredible pleasure and honour for me to have one of the best percussionists in the world as my collaborator on this project. I have long followed his work in the jazz clubs of Bern, and I think he is the greatest percussionist in the world. Beyond playing brilliantly, Julian is incredibly open, curious, and has a natural tendency to explore. I met him at a studio recording session for the young singer-songwriter Sophie Hunger. This meeting left a lasting impression on me. When I began to prepare Myousic and decided on an improvisational work for the stage, I thought of him right away. He possesses an unparalleled knowledge, a sense of

Photo:© dimitrideperrot.com

for us to let ourselves sense this moment, and we struggle to open ourselves up to a new discovery.

Nowadays, there is an overwhelming amount of information being dumped on us by the media, the Internet, and the various portals. We are bombarded with news, comments, and pictures that appeal to our fears and desires. As a result, we slowly stop relying on our own feelings, senses and thoughts. The story told through sounds gives us the opportunity to create our own thoughts and images, to reflect on the acoustic influences with our own power of imagination.

Bio in brief Dimitri de Perrot was born in 1976 in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and has performed as a DJ since high school. De Perrot studied at the Zurich University of the Arts, and then continued his music education independently. Since 1994 he has collaborated on many Swiss and Italian music projects and has composed a number of film soundtracks. In 1998, he turned to the theatre as a director, musician and actor. Together with Gregor Metzger and Martin Zimmerman, he founded the MZdP artist collective, which was dissolved in 2005 after three joint productions. That same year, Zurich chose him as the musician of the year and he received the Werkjahr Prize in the pop/rock/jazz category. De Perrot has appeared with his musical theatrical productions at many international festivals in New York, Avignon, London, Tokyo and Sydney.

rhythm, and a willingness to experiment. We’ve performed Myousic at many locations, and everywhere an exciting musical dialogue emerged from the way Julian rhythmically responds to my “noise composition”.

Are you planning on experimenting with sounds in the future?

I feel like I came across the right path forward a few years ago, which has many untapped opportunities. The non-traditional use of sounds in the majority of visual arts is a sort of virgin territory.

I am primarily planning to create sound-oriented productions with Swiss and French musicians and actors that move between theatre and exhibitions.

We have already worked on several projects and are currently experimenting. I hope that with my work I can contribute to the acceptance of unfamiliar and previously unexplored styles.

35

A painter and diplomat th from the 17 century Peter Paul Rubens

Text: Györgyi Orbán • Photos: Museum of Fine Arts - Budapest

The Museum of Fine Arts will host a grand, international exhibition featuring 120 works titled “Rubens, Van Dyck and the Splendour of Flemish Painting”, which will open on 30 October.

The exhibition will run in the beautifully renovated museum until 16 February 2020.

The exhibition is based on the Museum of Fine Arts’ rich Flemish collection, but it will also include artworks on loan from several renowned foreign collections, such as the Hermitage, the Prado, the National Galleries in London and Washington, as well as the Liechtenstein Princely Collections in Vienna, which will lend 20 outstanding masterpieces. These include a piece (Decius Mus Relating His Dream) from Rubens’s large-scale Decius Mus Cycle, which will be displayed alongside a special tapestry inspired by the painting and woven with gold and silver thread, which is on loan from the Palacio Real in Madrid. These two works will be presented together for the first time in Budapest. The exhibition will contain 30 paintings by Rubens and more than 10 by Van Dyck, but the whole era will be presented, with associated works from the museum’s own graphical materials such as drawings, engravings, as well as a statue of Rubens sculpted by the painter's friend Georg Petel. The exhibition will contain many different themes, colours, shapes and genres.

According to the art historian Julia Tátrai, who is the exhibition’s curator, one of the highlights is the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, which was studied by Klára Garas, and which belongs to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Their story can be revealed: how did objects from this collection find their way to Hungary once upon a time? How did these items leave the Habsburg Netherlands from Brussels to Vienna, and from there how did certain objects continue onwards to Budapest? The first illustrated art history catalogue, the Theatrum Pictorium published in Antwerp in 1660, which relates to this, will have several pages that belong to the museum's graphics collection also displayed.

The exhibit intends to show the atmosphere of the entire era, as such the interactive monitors will show a map of Antwerp and visitors can also take a virtual tour of Rubens’s house. In addition to the Flemish tapestry from Madrid, the process of 36

Cultur al quarter Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna (1620)

preparing tapestries contemporary to the era will be shown on video: how these works were made starting from the first oil sketch by Rubens.

With the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the Eighty Years’ War came to an end, the northern provinces of the Netherlands won their independence, and Antwerp became an artistic centre. One thematic section of the exhibition will focus on the era of the Counter-Reformation and specifically the paintings that focused on the Old Testament and antiquity, for Rubens was commissioned to create such works. Following this a section will show the ties the Flemish painter had to Italy.

Rubens spent eight years in the court of the Duke of Mantua between 1600 and 1608, where he discovered the works of Titian, Veronese and Caravaggio. He also was commissioned by Italians, at times together with Van Dyck.

In addition to works by Rubens, the hall displaying portraits will feature the Wedding Portrait of Princess Mary Henrietta Stuart, the daughter of Charles I of England, by Anthony Van Dyck, one of the greatest Flemish portrait artists, which was recently

purchased by the museum. The exhibition will also include his portrait Saint John the Evangelist.

You can also learn about the works of other famous Flemish artists, such as Rubens’s contemporaries Jacob Jordaens, Frans Snyders, Jan Fyt and David Teniers. Still lifes, animal paintings and hunting scenes will be displayed, as will pictures through which the viewer can look into the lives of different social groups. The Proverbs and Fables series will show moralising and entertaining paintings typical of Dutch Protestantism.

Rubens, an era-defining artist, was a great synthesizing mind who learned and borrowed motifs from antiquity, the Renaissance, and then went beyond them. He did not paint any nudes based on a living model, except of his wives. He was a hedonist in the good sense. Rubens corresponded in seven languages and successfully completed diplomatic missions. He was a multi-faceted and educated Renaissance man in the baroque era, Júlia Tátrai summarised.

A Hungarian and English-language catalogue written by Hungarian and foreign experts will be produced for the exhibition.

Opposite page: Van Dyck’s Wedding Portrait of Princess Mary Henrietta Stuart (1641)

37

From celebratory music to a memorial concert

The guitarist and talent nurturer Ferenc Snétberger Text: Rita Szentgyörgyi

Photo:© AP Photo / Bela Szandelszky

Ferenc Snétberger owes his international reputation to his virtuosity, improvisational art, and genre-transcending playing. He developed his own artistic style through an especially sensitive playing technique that blends Gypsy melodies, flamenco, classical and jazz.

Although he also performs as part of a duo or trio, perhaps his most authentic genre is solo acoustic guitar, where he blends the diverse melodies of jazz, Latin and classical music to create his unmistakable Snétberger sound.

38

It is a rare musical experience and an exceptional occasion when three European jazz greats, the guitar virtuoso Ferenc Snétberger, the trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, and the bassist Arild Andersen reunite for a concert. Life decided to change the plans that these musicians originally set, however. Their original idea was to take the stage as a quartet together with Paolo Vinaccia to give a performance evoking the intense and emotionally rich album Joyosa that was released in 2004 by Snétberger, Stockhausen, Andersen and the drummer Patrick Héral. Owing to Vinaccia’s unexpected death, however, the concert in the Liszt Academy of Music on 13 October will now be a memorial concert instead, titled “In Memoriam Paolo Vinaccia”.

"We lost a great musician, a special personality, in Paolo Vinaccia”, Ferenc Snétberger said about this defining figure in European jazz. “Markus Stockhausen and I have played together as a duo and in the Joyosa project for 20 years. I met Arild Andersen through Stockhausen. The musical harmony between us worked so well that we started a band in the early 2000s. Andersen drew my attention to the Italian drummer Paolo Vinacára, who had been living in Norway for decades.

We met in Oslo, and at the first jam session I realised how fantastic of a musician he was. For my 50th birthday, I assembled a larger band in which Paolo drummed. He was a very sensitive, authentic musician”.

One of the finest chapters of their collaboration, and one of the peaks of Snétberger's career, was the record Nomad released in 2005 by the Ferenc Snétberger Trio with Vinaccia on percussion and Andersen on bass.

Snétberger, who had planned the Joyosa concert, came to a decision with the other participants, that they would perform as a trio without a new drummer. “It’s been a long time since we played together and we can’t wait to see each other again.

Everyone will also perform two or three new songs in addition to the classics from Joyosa.”

What can also be considered the culmination of Snétberger's career is that the world-renowned record company ECM has released his albums over the last three years. In addition to jazz, these days he has increasingly returned to classical music. Last year, he performed with the Keller Quartet in the Academy of Music playing his own compositions, the works on In Memory of My People composed for guitar and orchestra. ECM has plans to release a record featuring improvisations over the classical parts of this concert. But Snétberger has not been unfaithful to the jazz scene either: at the Müpa Jazz Showcase he played electric guitar with the jazz-funk band Solati, in which his son Toni plays the drums. From the music palace of Hamburg to Japan he has a number of collaborations planned, which will also feature the chamber jazz sound that he loves. Snétberger frequently performs as a duo together with Tony Lakatos, and three years ago they released a live concert recording titled Life in Tokyo. One of his upcoming plans is to perform together with the Argentinean bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi, who he met at the Udine Jazz Festival, and with whom has wanted to play for a long time.

Ferenc Snétberger's name has become fused over the past eight years with the Snétberger Music Talent Center, which is recognized across Europe. He began the musical training of talented Roma children from difficult circumstances in Germa-

Photo:© Paolo Molde

Cultur al quarter

Paolo Vinaccia

ny, operating a school in Neukölln for years. The Hungarian workshop founded in Felsôörs (in the hills above Lake Balaton), for the musical education of youths primarily from Roma and disadvantaged backgrounds, has become successful as a result of the methods associated with Snétberger’s name.

This spring, they received the Nuevos Creadores Prize awarded by the Spanish Roma Cultural Institute to new composers.

The award was presented at the Prado Museum in Madrid on the occasion of the International Romani Day celebrations.

The young talents performed in the National Concert Hall in Madrid, which was attended by Queen Sophia of Spain. "Upon hearing of the talent centre, people think of youths who are only at the beginning stages of learning to play music. The Spanish were quite surprised at the knowledge of our students "Snétberger added, who receives many invitations to lecture about the method he has developed. There is strong interest to introduce the Snétberger programme across Europe in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. According to Snétberger, the essence of the method is: "Unlike traditional music schools, teachers and students are together from morning to night. We conduct six-week-long intensive training sessions, covering topics such as music theory to music history to harmony, rhythm exercises and orchestral classes. The students are free to improvise and they play together. They hold small concerts each night to illustrate what they learned on that day. I play with the little ones right away, which is a novelty for them. After a week of practising, I begin to set them up on their own journey, once I have appraised their abilities. The goal is to continue learning”. The Snétberger Foundation supports the work of the talent centre through instruments and scholarships.

39

40 Photo:© Krisztián Bódis

City Guide Budapest’s architectural golden age was during the period between the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (1867) and the beginning of the First World War (1914).

Over time the emblematic palaces found across the city have changed functions in parallel with their owners. Formerly a press centre, banks, travel agencies or post offices, these buildings have been transformed into luxury hotels by notable architects to meet the needs of Budapest’s constantly growing tourism industry.

The mobility of the youth has brought about a different type of change in Budapest. Old and decaying buildings that could still be salvaged were transformed with a small investment and elbow grease into entertainment venues with gardens, thereby creating a new concept in the process: ruin pubs.

And elegant and large apartments have also inspired fresh ideas, as apartment restaurants open one after another, awaiting smaller groups of more refined guests.

Other apartments in turn have become fashion salons who cater to customers looking for something to wear that is unique but still affordable.

The architect Henrik Schmahl blended the era’s art nouveau style with colourful Moorish, Venetian and neo-Gothic elements. The ground-floor arcade is what makes the building of Párisi Udvar Hotel Budapest unique

41

The Treasure Cave from the 1,001 Nights

The Párisi Udvar: awaiting guests with unconventional luxury Text: Eszter Götz

Photo:© Krisztián Bódis

A true miracle occurred in the summer of 2019 in downtown Pest, as a building that had been partially empty for decades and fell into disrepair reopened as the Párisi Udvar luxury hotel. The building belongs to the Hyatt international hotel chain’s special group of buildings in historic locations, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, of which it is the only one in Central Europe.

The Párisi Udvar (“Paris Courtyard”) is a concept of cultural history. Its name preserves the building that stood on the site from 1817 to 1908, which was developed by the greatest neoclassical architect of Pest, Mihály Pollack, who in addition to the National Museum also built several aristocratic palaces in District VIII in the contemporary French style of the time.

This triangular building had an arcade lit through windows at the top that connected the streets on the two sides of the building. The row of stores in contained invited the small population of Pest from that era with its elegant environment, foreshadowing to some extent the grandiose glass-ceilinged shopping arcades that would open across Europe from Milan and Vienna to Brussels and Moscow from the 1870s onwards.

42

At the time Pest was still a dusty, boring town, but in the mid1860s it began to witness spectacular developments. The first bridge to span the Danube was completed in 1851, with the rest following over the following decades. In 1903, the graceful suspension bridge that crossed to Pest from the northern foot of Gellért Hill that was named after Empress Elisabeth opened.

The area around the bridgehead in Pest became a central location, and the land on which the "French House" stood was needed.

In 1909, a bank bought the building and demolished most of it, erecting in its place the palace that would become a symbol of the ever-wealthier citizenry. The building’s architect, Henrik Schmahl, arrived to Budapest from Hamburg, and com-

Photo:© Eszter Gordon

bined the art nouveau style of the era with colourful Moorish, Venetian and neo-Gothic elements. The architecture of the Alhambra in Granada was of tremendous influence on him, and he understood how he could recall the spirit of that era by creating a credible and well-functioning building in a modern metropolitan environment.

The Párisi Udvar retained the uniqueness of the former building and used it for its own benefit, with state-of-the-art technological solutions for its era. The arcade was preserved on the ground floor, but the vaulted ceiling and the domed ceilings above the central space and entryway were lit with pressed glass elements made from luxfer prisms that multiplied the light, so that the roofed pedestrian area which only received indirect light had the effect of a treasure cave from the One Thousand and One Nights. Pedestrians could access this spectacular world from two entrances, above which were the magnificent glass ceilings, and on the ground floor the stores were made unique by being situated in filigree metal frames with carved oak doors. The plant shapes in the stained-glass windows that opened onto the staircase evoked at once eastern styles and Hungarian folk art motifs. Between the two gates of the arcade, in the façade facing Ferenciek Square, there was a separate entrance through a wrought-iron gate into the bank hall on the ground floor.

Photo:© Krisztián Bódis

Cit y GuidE

43

tel's reception desk appears as a “piano black” furnishing. The staircases and lifts are protected by a glass door, and only the hotel's guests are allowed to go upstairs, but the traffic in the arcade makes it feel like a true urban public space. Most of the rooms in the upper floors have an individual layout. The glass covering of the polygonal courtyard allowed for the formation of a covered atrium on the upper floor featuring a bar. On the first floor, in the inner courtyard that surrounds the arcade’s central glass ceiling, a sculpted, snow-white, pierced structure shows the dome from above.

Owing to the multi-layered windows with perfect acoustic insulation, the rooms can only see the bustle of downtown without having to hear it. The furnishings combine elements of art deco and contemporary design, and are dominated by white, sand,

Photo:© Parisi Udvar Hitel Budapest

Apartments were constructed on the upper floors, and sunlit studios with skylight windows were built at the very top. This was accompanied by an astonishing decorative design that utilised a variety of materials and brilliant colours on the outer surfaces, and owing to Schmahl 's refined taste – which produced one of Europe's largest connected ceramic façades – the wide range of ornamentation is harmonious. Frost-resistant and easily mouldable and paintable pyrogranite ceramics were used, which were produced by the Zsolnay Factory of Pécs. On the second floor a bright balcony with a ceramic guardrail goes along the entire length of the two façades, with the consoles supporting the balconies also covered in decorated ceramics. The façade of the higher floors is dominated by colourful glazed ceramics, and the curved, rhythmically varied two or

three window groups are emphasized by green glazed inserts.

From the ornate fields between the third and fourth floors, ceramic busts of male and female figures lean out over the street, who with their soft strokes and delicate gestures tame the dragon gargoyles that decorate the two stone lace towers located at the top of the corner façade.

Next to the inner courtyard with curved arcades on each floor, a staircase decorated with bright green glazed ceramic windows rises. The main staircase, by cleverly using its space, connects the various stairwells leading up to the wings at shared resting spots between the floors, and in the middle of this resting space a majolica veneer and coloured glass decorate the lift cabins, while fine gothic arches bend above the steps. The whole space is graceful and solemn.

The building’s history, unconventional luxurious solutions and its unique beauty posed a challenge to the design team who reconstructed the Párisi to its original splendour for 2019. This building, which once housed a bank, apartments, shops and studios was transformed into a luxury hotel. The architects added new functions to the old building and preserved all of its virtues. A café opened in the arcade, at the end of which the ho44

gold and black-coloured surfaces. A hexagonal conference hall was built above the courtyard, with its unique textiles featuring the motif that was the emblem of the bank at the turn of the century, and what Henrik Schmahl himself concealed in several places among the façade’s ornaments: the hexagonal form of a honeycomb.

In an elegant hotel, the top and bottom levels usually hide the most exciting details. In the case of the Párisi Udvar, this has been changed a little, since the building is historic and its unmatched splendour is impressive on each floor. In one wing of the lower floor there is a prestigious wellness area with a jacuzzi and massage rooms, which with its monochrome surfaces and pastel colours is slightly removed from the world of far eastern appearances, instead offering peace and relaxation. There is a real surprise at the top, however: although not apparent from the street, beneath the sapphire-coloured glazed tiles on the roof, an extra level was created by the designers that exists of two residences hundreds of metres in size, which are surrounded by a wide, wood-panelled roof terrace on three sides, which reveals a unique panorama of central Budapest that is not visible from anywhere else.

Cit y GuidE

The mystery of pearls and silks A Hungarian clothing label that builds on personal touches and tradition Text: Anikó Magócsi • Photos: Celeni

Eszter Cselényi, the founder of the CELENI brand, personally speaks with customers when possible so that everyone can find what will suit them the best: an outfit in which they can truly feel like a woman.

Her clothes are special because they draw their stories from Hungarian cultural treasures and traditions. The main source of inspiration for this year’s autumn/winter collection is the Holy Crown, which is one of the most powerful of symbols for Hungarians.

45

You entered fashion design following your economic and pedagogical studies. When did it become clear that this would be your career?

This was a slower process. What is for certain is that I bring my commitment to fashion from home, for my mom also likes to dress up very much, and my entire family also puts in the effort to wear quality things. I felt pretty early on that I would like to work in a fashion-related area, but for a long time I didn't know exactly with what. I graduated in England, where I took an elective in business studies, because along with my parents we believed that it could provide me with a foundation.

Additionally, they are businesspeople, and I grew up in such an environment. Today I can clearly see how fortunate it was that things occurred that way. Despite this, I always felt that I wished to work more with my creative side. I searched for my path, which is how I arrived at the KREA Design School, where I studied fashion design. That’s how I decided that I'd like to do this. In parallel with my studies, I began to build the CELENI brand.

Based on what criteria?

Fundamentally, my aim was to design a top-tier fashion brand.

CELENI focuses on women who are more mature, and who have already established their lives. We offer them clothing from practically head to toe. I certainly made it challenging for myself, since our customers can shop anywhere. They’re not looking for a dress to be exceptionally trendy, but something that would stand the test of time and in which they feel good while wearing. What relates to this is that I’ve never had a model’s figure, and I never considered this to be fortunate, but it is, for during the designing stage I think about what I would wear, what I feel comfortable in, and what suits me. For each collection I am very attentive to the fact that the clothes we make should go well with all body types.

As I understand, personal touches and communication are very important parts of your working process…

Yes, I am quite happy when we have a personal relationship with our customers, otherwise we cannot be unique. There are so many dresses hanging at home and in stores that we simply cannot tell the difference. The experience that I believe needs to be brought back into people’s lives is that when they leave our store, they feel that they have purchased something they are happy with, which has value and will last. This guarantees that the item will remain in their wardrobe for years to come. I also consider it very important that there be a story attached to the dress. This way customers I did not have the pleasure of meeting can also take home a piece of Hungary with themselves.

These are the stories that inspire our collections. The women for whom I design are open to culture, otherwise they would not appreciate the stories related to the clothes.

What type of woman do you picture during the planning stages?

The type who does a lot of things. Maybe they already have children, work alongside them, and need to appear at work, or they travel or attends exhibitions or the theatre. The various accessories alter the clothes for each specific occasion. I am trying to help others learn how to love themselves, how to recognise that in which we feel good. We look much better when we have a positive attitude.

That radiates from you as well!

Yes, I am absolutely that type. Recharging is absolutely important as well in my opinion. I love travelling, going to exhibitions and concerts, and I listen to a lot of classical music.

These all provide me with inspiration and we have to live our experiences. Budapest is a fantastic location in this respect because of its incredible variety of programmes.

You mentioned the stories that inspired collections. These are usually very tradition and value-oriented things, since in some cases you painted your clothes with a contemporary artist, while at other times you have used the Hungarian grey cattle, cartoons, porcelain or ceramics from the Ôrség region as a source of inspiration. How do these ideas originate?

Before I go to the market for materials, I begin observing trends. Then I consider which trend I can link to something

46

Cit y GuidE few people have the opportunity for. I'm so grateful for that and it is that that I'm trying to give back a little through my collection. For example, if we use a Palóc weave, then we will make sure our customers know that, so that it sneaks back into their lives. The storehouse of Hungarian tradition and culture is seemingly endless. I also consider it important that, although we reach back to traditions, what we create should be something modern that can be worn anywhere in the world and does not appear to be "folk art".

In the autumn/winter collection you draw from a very strong symbol, the Holy Crown. How was this concept formed?

What is also characteristic of this collection is that the crown appears differently from how a person would first imagine it. We simplified it to make it into wearable pieces. The Byzantine motifs and decorations are very powerful, and I have long wanted to create a collection like this. This autumn and winter pearls and gold will be trendy, and when I learned this, I immediately knew that now was the time to do the crown. We currently participate in a mentor programme, and my Italian mentors strongly tried to steer me in the direction where everything would feature crowns and is completely covered in pearls.

However, our customers do not like to be attention-seekers, so a much more refined collection was created featuring an element or two of the crown. If someone does not know that this is a crown motif, then at first glance they may not even notice it. That's what I try to explain a little bit in our catalogue, but it's never in too much detail, so that I preserve the experience of discovery for our customers. In the inside of the clothes we produced relatively large labels that remind me of the pages of a codex. On these we will revive the mysticism associated with the crown. It was a commonly held belief that the Holy Crown chose the ruler and not the other way around. There are also many spiritual stories related to the Crown, which can be revealed through multiple collections.

that is tied to Hungarian culture and tradition. I always strive to make sure that my pairings are not obvious. For example, when the trend was children’s drawings, I was inspired by the works of the graphic artist Károly Reich. To achieve this, I needed to hang his images in my children’s room. For the porcelain collection it was the memories of eating from porcelain at Christmas. People frequently refer back to that which they bring from home. I grew up in a very fortunate family, for we had a library and went to the opera. I could absorb a lot of things into my heart during my childhood, which perhaps very

What colours and materials dominate this collection?

We frequently played around with yellowish or mustard shades and with dark blue, for these two colours are especially pronounced in the crown. The blue is from the gemstones, while the mustard and the golden yellow are from the gold.

What is always difficult with the materials is that foreign and Hungarian customers look for something different, but we strive to meet both needs. Due to international customers we use a lot of natural materials, such as cotton, wool and silk.

For local customers we use mixed textiles that are easier to work with. Viscose is my favourite. Interestingly, we have a lot of foreign customers who return online. We always take measurements of everyone, because I do not believe ready-to-wear exists, since we are all unique. Those who have already been to Budapest and bought from us will receive information on the new collection by email, and we will fully tailor the piece they select. We have a huge closet that alphabetically contains our customers’ measurements going back for years. This is also part of our personal touch. That’s how we work.

Wbsite: celeni.hu/en Facebook: facebook.com/cselenyieszter/

47

An autumn for world-class sports Budapest to celebrate world champions and a world-class stadium Text: Adrián Szász

Photo:© groundsteam.hu

"A military courier embarks on an important mission, having to deliver a letter to his allies across the river. He departs on horseback, but the enemy discovers him, so he will have to cut his way through the battlefield with a sword and pistol. The horse is gunned down by the enemy, so he swims across the river and then runs to deliver the message to its recipient.” The sport of Modern Pentathlon was launched with this story 110 years ago, and its best athletes will arrive to Hungary this September. Wrestling was part of the pentathlon in antiquity, but has been its own event for a long time, and the best 23-year-old youths in this sport will also compete in Budapest this October.

In mid-November, one of the continent's greatest new football stadiums will be ceremoniously opened in the Hungarian capital together with 70,000 people. The European Capital of Sport will not take a break in the autumn, and will become even more colourful, just like the leaves in the trees.

Gunfire and thundering hoofs Budapest’s largest horse racing track, Kincsem Park, will host the 2019 Pentathlon World Championships between 2-8 September. The 84-hectare facility is named after the multiple prize-winning Hungarian racehorse Kincsem, who lived in the second half of the 19th century, and who equestrian sport lovers affectionally called the “Hungarian Wonder”. Kincsem Park, with a capacity of 3,500 spectators in its stands, is a popular venue for races, and has also hosted concerts such as Madonna’s first performance in Hungary in 48

2009. The thrill of the Pentathlon World Championships is enhanced this year not only because it is the most prestigious event for this very spectacular and varied sport, but it will also serve as a qualification tournament for the Olympics.

This means that for both men and women there will be three spaces up for grabs for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Klaus Schormann, President of the International Modern Pentathlon Association (UIPM), is confident that the event will be successful, because nowhere else in the world have so many excellent former pentathletes participated in managing the sport and organising competitions as have in Hungary.

Photo:© gyorgypalko.com

Cit y Guide

One of them, Péter Sárfalvi, Deputy Secretary of State for Sports Facilities and Sports Relations, and also a former fourtime world champion, said that it is a tremendous source of joy that Budapest can host a world championship, for which all conditions have been fulfilled. The Hungarian capital hosted this event for men in 1954, 1969, 1979 and 1989, and for women in 1992, while also hosting the event for both genders in 1999 and 2008. “The Hungarian pentathlon is a very important pillar of sport for both men and women,” President Schormann stressed, who also pointed out that the UIPM considers it important that viewers should be able to view all of the stages from the same seat, which will be accomplished for this occasion.

István Gallai, Secretary-General of the Hungarian Pentathlon Association, has revealed a preliminary technical detail that a mobile pool is being built in front of the stands and that the piste for the so-called bonus fencing will also be located there, so that everything will be visible from anywhere. What else is interesting is that for the first time, the Laser Run World Championships will take place in parallel with the pentathlon. As such, this year's event in Budapest will be even bigger that previous ones. János Martinek, the Olympic champion who captains the Hungarian team, hopes that Hungarians will stand on the podium after receiving support from the Hungarian spectators. He is always pleased to return to Kincsem Park, having become a world champion during his active years, and also having won a trotting race at a memorable New Year's Eve competition. Martinek now has the opportunity to treble as the team leader.

A new generation on the mat From 28-31 October Budapest will also host the World U23 Wrestling Championships, and this tournament will be held in the Ludovika Aréna, the National University of Public Service’s new sports hall. Szilard Németh, President of the Hungarian Wrestling Federation, said that hosting the world's 20-23-year-old wrestling talents is also a step towards Budapest becoming the third most respected European city for organising sporting events after London and Paris. Péter Bácsi, the 82-kilogram Hungarian winner at last year’s adult world championships also held in Budapest said that last year’s event was probably the best organized of all time.

The champion specifically highlighted the popularity of the shows before and after the matches, which his family and two children also enjoyed. "The adult world championship was highly praised by those who previously barely attended such sporting events, because they could not believe how enjoyable it is in person! It has a totally different atmosphere than on television or the internet. Although a competition featuring up-and-coming talents is smaller in scale, the talents here are those just on the cusp of joining the adults,” Bácsi revealed.

Puskás, Bozsik, Gera…

Two weeks after the youth wrestling world championships – on 15 November – a friendly between Hungary and Uruguay will open the gates of the new Puskás Aréna. This new facility will host games as part of the 2020 UEFA European 49

3D visualisation:© kozti.hu 3D visualisation:© kozti.hu

Championship, and on this date will see the two-time World Cup runner up and threetime Olympic Champion Hungarian National Football Team play the two-time World Cup Champion and two-time Olympic Champion South American team. The top-ranked Uruguayan National Football Team features

50

world class players such as Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani. Hungary has only hosted Uruguay on one occasion before in 1962, which was also the farewell match for the 101-times capped József Bozsik. Following that farewell to a member of the former Golden Team, this occasion will also feature a farewell, as fans will

FR

EE

!

3D visualisation:© kozti.hu

CIT Y GUIDE

The latest news, toplists, interactive map, special offers and tour recommendations are waiting for you!

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download the coolest Budapest city guide app and discover all the fascinating things and sights of the city.

Let the adventure begin!

get the chance to say goodbye to Zoltán Gera, who officially retired in 2018 after 97 caps. The 40-year-old Gera was not only a Hungarian champion and cup winner during his career, but he also enjoyed success in England for 10 years. In London he led Fulham to the Europa League final, becoming a fan favourite in the process. Many people remember him as the “Magical Magyar” to this day.

The new Puskás Aréna, built on the site of the former Népstadion (“People’s Stadium”) included some of its elements in its construction, and will be one of the most modern stadiums in the world with a capacity of 67,000. György Skardelli, the Miklós Ybl Prize-winning architect who also designed the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena and the National University of Public Service’s sports centre said that at least 1,000 people are at work here on a daily basis, so that everything will be completed. “Sport is everything for me (...) All in all, the Puskás Aréna took 10 years out of my life; of course, I’m emotionally invested in it. But now that I’ve said that, I have to correct my words: it did not take 10 years out of my life, but added 10,” he said. A total of 150,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete – enough to build 75 residential towers – were used for this building with 170,000 square metres of useful space, which is 52 metres high and 316 metres long, and has 38 stairwells, 27 lifts, 600 full HD screens and 45 snack bars. The designer revealed another interesting tidbit: each spectator’s line of sight will be nine centimetres above the person’s sitting before them, so that everyone can see what is happening on the pitch. Additionally, no seat will be further than 80 metres from the field. Consequently, everything has been provided to ensure a memorable sporting experience.

in one place

BUDAPEST MAP PLACES TOURS TOPLISTS NEWS #INTERACTIVE MAP #RECOMMENDATIONS #COUPONS #USEFUL www.guideme.hu @guideme.budapest @guideme.budapest @GuideMeBudapest

51

Turn of the century Budapest in the City Park Text: Gerda Seres • 3D visualisation: ligetbudapest.hu

This autumn the Millennium House will reopen with a temporary exhibition showcasing the City Park’s golden age. The new 13,000 square-metre Grand Playground, which has sections according to age, will also be ceremoniously opened. By 2023, every building in the Liget Project will open its doors to tourists and locals.

Reconstruction works on the 130-year-old listed Olof Palme House have been completed. One of the oldest buildings in the City Park, its new permanent exhibition will evoke the atmosphere of turn of the century Budapest. “We dreamt up an exhibition in the building, which will reopen as the Millennium House, that will be interesting for all ages. Our belief is that interactivity is more than simply a multitude of QR codes in addition to the exhibits”, said Benedek Gyorgyevics, CEO of Városliget Zrt. He added that the building’s façade had its Zsolnay ceramics replaced, and a fountain was placed in the middle of the entrance to the rose garden, which was also produced by the Zsolnay factory in Pécs. The building acts as a cultural community space: in addition to the exhibition hall, there is a stage podium and a café with a special atmosphere.

Smaller conference and lecture halls along with a museum pedagogy hall were created in the bottom level.

In autumn, one of the largest and most modern playgrounds in the country will open. “We planned a total of seven children's playgrounds in the renewed City Park, the most spectacular of which is the Grand Playground: it offers slides for all ages, as well as nest and hanging swings, see-saws, a merry-go-round, rope courses, trampolines, various sandboxes and water 52

games”, Benedek Gyorgyevics revealed. The most spectacular feature of the children's playground in the south-eastern part of the park will be a three-storey climbing deck inspired by the red-and-white striped balloon painting “Léghajó” (“Airship”)

by Pál Szinyei Merse. Gyorgyevics emphasised: “This park has disabled access, so that children with disabilities can play together with their healthy peers, and we installed many integrated playing instruments for this."

Next to the Grand Playground there will also be a skatepark, climbing walls and a track for BMX riders. “We were very careful that the smaller ones could play in a protected inner circle without the risk of the big kids running around and knocking them over,” Gyorgyevics added. The playground will have staff to ensure that the rules and regulations are observed. “These mostly young helpers will not actively participate in the playing, but their presence ensures that things will operate smoothly. There are plans to make it so that people can check online to see how busy the playground is, so that they can get an accurate picture of whether they need to count on it being crowded or not.”

As part of the park’s development, several sport pitches will be created. The first was opened in August last year for lo-

CIT Y GUIDE

visited more than 300,000 times since it opened in May last year.

“The vegetation in the park will also be renewed so that the park will become greener. We have begun to reduce the concrete and asphalt surfaces that increased over the previous decades at the expense of green areas. The pavement of the Olof Palme Promenade, which is currently 14 metres

Színyei Merse Pál: Léghajó (1882)

Repoduction: © Hungarian National Gallery

cal students and sport enthusiasts. In addition to the 200-metre four-tracked running circuit, there are also ball courts and outdoor fitness facilities.

“In the development’s second phase, a two-kilometre length illuminated track will be completed together with changing and showering facilities.”

Visitors are already welcome to visit the Garden of the Blind, and the dog adventure park has been

53

wide, will be reduced to six metres, and simply by doing this 1,600 square metres of green space will be returned to the park,” Gyorgyevics stressed. The underground parking garage at Dózsa György Road with room for 800 vehicles is expected to be available for those arriving by car from the next summer. Underground garages are also being built at the zoo and Hermina Road, and with the closure of Kós Károly Promenade, the park will become car-free and see a drop in traffic of 1015,000 vehicles.

According to the plans, everything new in the Liget Project will open in 2023. From 2021 the House of Hungarian Music will receive visitors. It is based on the plans of Japanese star architect Sou Fujimoto and is near the lake in the neighbourhood of Vajdahunyad Castle. “I imagined a building that reflects the harmony of nature and man-made artificial elements,” the architect said, who regularly inspected the construction process.

A number of glass surfaces and the special roof structure with holes to allow trees through reinforce the illusion of permeability between the internal and external spaces. The three levels of the building have different functions: a museum exhibition space with a permanent interactive exhibition showing the history of music, a concert hall, and music-teaching halls.

54

The Museum of Ethnography is scheduled to open in 2021, which presents the cultural diversity of humanity, the material culture of traditional societies and the diversity of our current world through modern means. The special design by Napur Architect Kft., which has placed a significant part of the exhibition space below ground level, was recognised as the “World’s Best Public Institution” by the International Property Awards real estate competition. The building will provide space for the Children’s and Youth Museum, which will use modern museum pedagogical tools to make the themes of the exhibitions understandable and interesting to children.

At the end of the year, construction will commence on the new National Gallery, designed by the world-famous Japanese architectural firm SANAA, as well as on the House of Hungarian Innovation, which will tip its hat to Hungarian inventors. The City Park Theatre, demolished in 1952, will also be rebuilt. "We are planning a modern children's and youth theatre in the former art nouveau building. We will retain the appearance of the original building, but inside we will install modern stage equipment”, Gyorgyevics said.

Cit y GuidE

Fragrances Served

Cooking up joy in the Budapest perfume chef’s apartment restaurant Text: Adrián Szász • Photos: Eszter Gordon

Did you know that 75-80 percent of our taste perception is achieved through smell and only the remaining 20-25 is produced by our taste buds? Perfume chef Botond Boldizsár Bíró recognised this as a hobby chef, where he never measured the spices according to the recipes, but relied on his sense of smell instead. Intuitively, he only used his nose to guide his flavouring, which was somehow always successful. Bíró is at home in the world of fragrances, for he has operated a store selling organic and natural cosmetics known as Myropolium ("Perfume Library") for nearly a decade. It was a natural progression in 2012 to connect his love of scents with cooking. That is how the Béterv Apartment Restaurant opened near Heroes' Square in Budapest.

"The number of spices is not endless, but the number of ideas can be” the Transylvanian-born perfume chef observes, who never produces the same thing twice in a row. Bíró advertises one or two dinner events per month on his website (beterv. hu), which can only be attended through advance registration. (Those who would like to visit the restaurant at a time outside of these occasions should contact Bíró through the details on his website.)

What type of schedule do these scent dinners follow? The first course is always the scent itself, which arrives on a strip of paper. It is a particular spice, which also serves as an ingredient in a perfume, so it may be ginger, vanilla, mint, lavender

or cardamom. Guests try to recognise it at first from this, after which the food prepared with the scent also arrives. Then another fragrance is followed by another course – from the appetiser to the dessert. During the meal Bíró speaks about the history of fragrances, but of course in only as much detail as his current guests require. The groups are usually a mix of locals and foreigners.

“If you break a perfume down into its raw materials, it consists, in addition to alcohol and resin, of the essential oils of plants, flowers, fruits and spices” Bíró explains. “It could have more than 100 ingredients. I don't know what comes to mind from Rosemary for others, for example, but it makes me think of a delicious duck or lamb roast, 55

The dishes included in the photos: a basil gazpacho soup with vodka and feta cheese, a butternut squash sauce with curried sweet potatoes and peppercrusted pork tenderloin with parmesan chips.

56

while basil conjures a tasty Italian food specialty, and from cinnamon I think of apple pastries. This was the idea that inspired Béterv, which is based on the diversity of our herbs. I gathered inspiration during my travels around the world, which helps me prepare these creative dishes. I enjoy preparing Hungarian menus in addition to my international ones, but even then I like to add an unusual twist. I first visited an apartment restaurant in Cuba, and it was then that I realized that this could be a somewhat intimate, relaxed atmosphere that best fits the mood of the joy of cooking that I imagined. According to my guests, I made the right decision.”

The meals are prepared from carefully selected ingredients. Some of the dairy products and the olive oil are sourced from France, while the fresh meats and spices are sourced from reliable Hungarian market producers. And the philosophy as to how the perfume chef uses them is presumably unique in the word. The needs of the people – and their senses – always inspires the perfume chef with new ideas. There was also the case where a lady celebrating her birthday had the various dishes prepared from her favourite scents, and then at the end of the evening she received a gift with a unique label and bottle in which these ingredients had been combined into a perfume.

Cit y Guide

Interesting facts about Béterv and its owner Botond Boldizsár Bíró previously operated a shop selling specialty foods. The apartment restaurant was also inspired by a meeting with a German perfumer.

The name Béterv refers in part to his Plan B (what Béterv means in English), for his Plan A was the perfume store, and also because his three names all begin with the letter B. Wherever he goes in the world, he always tries the risotto and chocolate cakes to serve as a reference point. He adds that he never made a conscious decision to become a perfume chef, rather that it was a twist of fate. Bíró also begins each recipe with the following words: “I do not measure the ingredients, but smell and add them!”

When smaller groups arrive to the restaurant, and everyone sitting at a table is unfamiliar with the others, it frequently happens that the culinary experience moulds them into a cheerful community by the end of the dinner. A special event requires a minimum of 10 attendees, although it has occurred before that four people attended and happily consumed the meal designed for ten.

"The culinary evenings held in Hungarian and/or English are always themed. I have also associated the flavours and scents with colours, i.e. the presentation of paintings, or played different types of music during each course. We have also held a literary evening, a time-travel dinner back to the Roman Era, a team-building joint cooking evening, and even hamburgers and a steak duel. The repository of ideas in the world of

gastronomy is inexhaustible” says Bíró, who has also enjoyed success in other areas of life. He has performed for years as an actor, and is always open to learning. Thanks to his sommelier friends, he undertook a successful "study trip" into the world of wines, and ever since then he has selected the wines that accompany the dinners to ensure the triple harmony of flavour, scent and drink. The apartment is located in the heart of the Hungarian capital and offers an authentic Pest atmosphere.

Guests find it difficult to leave, and cannot wait to return. To find it, simply follow the scents.

57

Mazel Tov Israeli fusion in the heart of Budapest A special world reveals itself as we enter through one of the doorways found on the constantly lively Akácfa Street. Inside the bustle continues, but it is a very different type of bustle: spices, the dizzying smell of food, friendships, laughter, bits of conversation and the sound of cutlery on plates. In the meantime, the space opens up before us, and the light flowing in from above gives life to the plants that have fully taken over the hanging corridors of this former apartment house.

Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: Mazel Tov

The Mazel Tov team, which has operated for five years, has achieved its goal: in the special atmosphere of Budapest’s historic Jewish Quarter, they wanted to realise a vision of a charming urban garden where they can highlight local attributes and the diversity of Middle Eastern-Mediterranean cuisine.

“Our keywords are: Middle Eastern fusion cuisine and authentic Israeli food. The new Israel is a very young, 70-year-old country, the gastronomy of which came together as the peoples of the surrounding areas brought their own food with them.

58

Within this country a wide varietiy of food and cooking methods meet and come together. This is how modern Israeli cuisine came to be, which has been influenced by Syrian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Moroccan gastronomy,” Mazel Tov’s executive chef Áron Kelemen told Budapest’s Finest.

As he explained, Mazel Tov has a large capacity with plenty of chairs, and their primary aim was to serve a fairly mixed audience (those between the ages of 14 to 99) who would like to meet comfortably alongside well-known street foods. As such they can choose from among hummus, a

CIT Y GUIDE pastrami sandwich or a shawarma pita sandwich.

“I have more room for my creativity in the fusion field, although this is the smaller part of what we serve. My personal favourite, for example, is my own Israeli potato casserole. This is a fusion food that is based on the Hungarian layered potato casserole that was consumed in my childhood, but I replaced the traditional ingredients with those from the Middle East,” Kelemen said. Thus, purple, yellow and sweet potatoes, sage, mustard seed, and even filtered black tea are the main building blocks of this dish. In addition to the main menu, the “chef's special”, which varies roughly monthly, is based on currently available seasonal ingredients, and retains the world of Israeli flavours.

“Our guests are quite diverse and arrive from every ethnic group. Mazel Tov has grown not only in culinary terms, but it has also become a culturally very diverse meeting place. The majority of the guests are as varied as the menu and cultural programmes,” the chef said.

Anna Vas, who is responsible for organising the restaurant’s programmes, said that holidays and traditions which can be tied to Jewish culture

59

are always observed. There are menus that are specially designed for these occasions, and “à la carte” menus await guests for Seder feasts.

She added that they wish to familiarise Jewish traditions not primarily through food, but rather through programmes, such as concerts or performances, but for each holiday they also provide guests with a little gift as a small gesture. This year, for the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah (29 September), they will prepare an apple-honey selection.

The programmes are quite diverse and range from contemporary art exhibitions to concerts, comprehensive art and discursive events. “We strive to organise forward-looking projects with which we can continually renew and sustain interest,” Vas said. She advises paying attention to their highlighted events during the autumn.

60

As part of the Jazz Brunch event series, they will host the most prominent formations from the Hungarian jazz world who represent different styles. From classical performances to modern, ragtime and swing, as well as from the legendary “Jazz Age” to the unconventional era of nu Jazz.

For excellent jazz concerts, it is worth heading in the direction of Akácfa Street on Tuesday evenings, but each evening also has its own special live music performances.

For example, the restaurant will participate in the Night of Music held on 17 November, which will be jointly organised by the Budapest Municipal Government, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Budapest Festival and Tourism Centre.

Within this framework, audiences can listen to classical music in unusual environments, such as clubs, cafés, pubs and restaurants, including Mazel Tov. (17 November is Budapest Day, for on that day in 1873 the cities of Pest, Buda and Óbuda united.)

Mazel Tov also holds food-focused events, such as Hummus Day, when this traditional dish always receives an extra twist. For example, mushroom hummuses will be featured this autumn on Hummus Day, but sweet potato and pumpkin hummus with mango chutney are also favourites.

The Tel Aviv-inspired brunch has been a running success in the restaurant for years, which is available every day of the week. In addition to the Mazel Tov sizzling breakfast shakshuka and eye-catching hummus dishes, the juice bar, located in the middle of the garden, offers refreshments daily and seeks to evoke the atmosphere of the seaside.

The old apartment house at 27 Akácfa Street was abandoned by its former inhabitants long before Mazel Tov opened in 2014. According to Anna Vas, the site was excellent for what they imagined.

The Budapest culinary revival had only just begun in the heart of District VII, and it was here that they wanted to realise a sort of Middle Eastern lifestyle. The abundance of green surfaces helped a lot with this, as did the natural materials and, above all, the backyard garden with its live trees and the unique atmosphere of the walls.

In late 2018 at Hanukkah, the Mazel Tov team released a book titled Mazel Tov: People, Food, Experience (available in English and Hungarian).

It is not only a cookbook, for in addition to the regular and fusion dishes prepared by the chef, he introduces his colleagues, their personal stories, thoughts and favourite dishes. This is a book of memories, which when we open it at home hopes to inspire you to begin cooking immediately, or to rush back to Akácfa Street to be part of the magic once again.

CIT Y GUIDE

Budapest: capital of ruin pubs An urban atmosphere, breezy terraces, beer benches and leather armchairs Text: Szonja Somogyi • Photos: Eszter Gordon

If you were to ask tourists on the streets of Budapest what the attractions and characteristic places that you should definitely see or try out are, many of them would probably say the words: ruin pubs.

We do not speak of bars from days gone by that have fallen into disrepair, however. On the contrary, we are referring to former living quarters, rooms and entire residential buildings, which by retaining their originality and atmosphere have taken on a new function. Special worlds that remove us from the present and fly us back to a long-gone era, the romantic elements are sometimes deliberately amplified, or even barely noticeable. Certain ruin pubs advertise loudness and collect the memories, relics and artefacts of the previous century to then display them eclectically in one place, while others use only the already present features of

the location and its history to set the mood.

In the early 2000s in District VII, large numbers of residential buildings came into new ownership, and these new landlords did not have sufficient resources to fully renovated them. The temporary solution to preserve their condition was achieved by young people who looked for cheap places to rent in the centre with the aim of opening bars. The furnishings were simply what was at hand: objects that had been thrown out or their owners simply tired of them, and furniture that was in better or worse shape. These were repaired to be usable again, or they were simply transformed into decorative elements. The 61

style is thus unique and cannot be imitated.

Since over the last 20 years these types of bars and ruin pubs sprung up like mushrooms across Budapest, it would be impossible to compile an exhaustive list. Consequently, we will only mention a few, some of which are completely different from one another, but which are nonetheless worth popping in to when you wander the city.

The “grandfather” of the Budapest ruin pubs is Szimpla.

Everything began in Kertész Street with a small café, from which a direct path led to 14 Kazinczy Street and Szimpla Kert (“Simple Garden”). As a pioneer, it immediately attracted attention: by preserving the elements of the old apartment building with hanging corridors they built a terrace, a movie

62

projection area, smaller rooms and counters on the ground floor and upstairs. It is a magical world, Alice's Wonderland, with a few twists: the youth of the 2000s could meet among the objects or furniture that belonged to their parents’ or their own childhoods, where they could share their world-changing ideas.

Word of this small treasure chest in Budapest quickly reached far and wide, so that now every night sees a winding line of party-goers waiting to get into one of the city's most famous pubs. But it would be inappropriate to call it “just” a pub, since it is much more than that. Although in the evenings we hear more foreign words here than Hungarian, it has nonetheless remained what it has always been: a community space. The

CIT Y GUIDE most diverse programmes await locals and non-locals alike: the garden cinema, film festivals, art workshops, exhibitions, bicycle fairs, and a farmers’ market.

The Szimpla vibe can also be enjoyed in Berlin. The German capital is known for its cultural diversity, and we can fully immerse ourselves in the Hungarian atmosphere of the past at Szimpla Berlin.

The other major flagship of the ruin pub scene was Instant, which has undergone tremendous changes over the past year since it merged, or more precisely “moved” into another big ruin pub, Fogasház (“Tooth House”). Since they joined forces, Instant-Fogas on Akácfa Street has become one of the largest entertainment venues in the city. The complex features 18 bars, seven dance rooms with a variety of musical styles, four VIP rooms, a garden area and a pizzeria. The complex also contains several different bars, of which the most charm-

parties and Latin American vibes. Located by Astoria, in the vicinity of one of the most famous university faculties in the country (ELTE Faculty of Humanities), it is the hangout for bohemians, artists and those who ponder the meaning of existence. In addition to its antique and well-worn furniture, some of its eclectic décor does not fit with anything else, nonetheless it all forms a single unit. The place is a café during the day, and in the evenings it turns into a bar where you can wind down the day or start the evening.

There is nothing vintage about Extra, which represents the newest wave of ruins pubs. The 140-year-old building’s imposing entrance from Klauzál Street leads inside to a huge inner courtyard, where the bare brick walls provide the “ruin atmosphere” but everything else is 21st century. The main sight in the courtyard is the bar and the gigantic letters hanging above it, which ensures that we cannot forget where we are even for a

ing is Liebling. This bar has a unique atmosphere as well as a rooftop terrace, which rises only one floor above street level, but on warmer autumn evenings it provides a pleasant experience next to a glass of wine or two.

And if we are talking about open spaces and Kazinczy Street, you cannot miss Ellátó Kert (“Supplier Garden”). Located in the very centre of the neighbourhood, in the vicinity of the Gozsdu Court, this ruin pub is typically filled with joyful ambiance. This is evident not only in terms of its colours, but also in the food and beverages. The place is unusual in the sense that the small food bar serves Mexican bites, and the whole area transports us to Mexico, be it the graffiti, authentic decorations or the sombreros. Dance-filled programmes are frequently held, and even mariachi bands are known to perform on occasion.

As the name implies, Csendes Létterem (“Quiet Living Room”) has an atmosphere far removed from large-scale

moment or what we get here: an extra feeling of life. The place has a capacity for up to 300 people, but even when it is crowded it does not feel that way. The spacious central area and the interior decorative elements that direct our eyes upwards make the space feel airy. Everyone can find what they are looking for in the side rooms created from apartments in this former residential building: there is a “beer bench” room for the louder, larger groups as well as leather armchairs in the more intimate spaces suited for conversations. Extra has a variety of food and beverage options, but not only for those looking for snacks next to a drink: they serve a new lunch menu every day.

The places presented here are a good illustration of how the term “ruin pub” is not a uniform concept. But there is one thing that characterises all of them: building something new from the past, creating something different, and within this everyone can find something to suit their personality, mood or the given occasion.

63

corner

Ferruccio Furlanetto recital 7 October 2019 Erkel Theatre

Photo:© Frank Schwichtenberg

One of the most famous basses in the world today is the Italian singer Ferruccio Furlanetto. A chamber singer at the Wiener Staatsoper, he has brought significant bass-baritone roles to life across Europe during his four-decades-long career, with this aria evening being held between two Viennese performances of Simon Boccanegra. His diverse repertoire includes the roles of Prince Gremin from Eugene Onegin, King Phillippe from Don Carlos, and Don Alfonso from Così fan tutte. Furlanetto is characterised by an everlasting endurance, a voice that demands respect, immense technique and an intelligent, profound interpretation of the roles. He possesses all of the qualities to be a star in his genre. After recording Don Giovanni and Eugene Onegin albums together with musicians from the Hungarian State Opera in earlier years, Furlanetto will arrive to Budapest on this occasion for an evening of arias in the Erkel Theatre, accompanied by the pianist Natalia Sidorenko. The concert is the perfect opportunity to admire the artistry of the great vocal composers and Furlanetto’s craft.

64

20 September 2019 Barba Negra Track Quimby produces an incredibly diverse musical universe, and the musicians themselves each bring something truly unique to the group. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that so many ideas cannot fit into a single band and that almost everyone has another "family" in addition to the main group. Due to this, they do not encounter any difficulties when calling upon an illustrious guest to join them for one of their concerts. The band, consisting of Tibor Kiss – guitar, vocals, Livius Varga – percussion, vocals, Szilárd Balanyi – keyboards, József Kárpáti – trumpet, Ferenc Mikuli – bass guitar and Ferenc Gerdesits – drums, will host a massive party to close out the summer at the popular Buda nightclub Barba Negra along with guest the Vera Jonás Experiment. The singer and songwriter Vera Jonás has become increasingly popular internationally following her performance at Eurosonic in 2017, which is Europe's greatest showcase festival, as well as for her performance at the South Korean Zandari Festa.

Photo:© Igor Saharov

Photo:© Quimby.hu

Programme

Quimby: A super concert to close out the summer

Khatia Buniatishvili 24, 25 November 2019 Liszt Academy of Music The Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, who is still only 32 years old, has been a returning guest of Concerto Budapest for a decade and is one of the great favourites of Hungarian concert audiences. On this occasion she will perform the solo part from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The work, which without exaggeration is dreaded by a number of pianists, was written in 1908-1909 for performers with the explosive energy and unparalleled technical ability that Buniatishvili possesses. Un petit rien (“a little nothing”) could never be said of Buniatishvili’s performances, but that is precisely the title of the work composed in 1964 by Bernd Alois Zimmermann. The chamber orchestra work in which a prominent role is given to moonlight comprises seven short movements and closes with a boogie-woogie. Richard Strauss’s Divertimento similarly requires a chamber orchestra apparatus, but this time it is made up not of seven but eight movements, each one of which utilises motifs from François Couperin’s works for harpsichord, thus paying tribute to the French Baroque master who was born almost 200 years before Strauss. Conducted by András Keller.

72h Plus

BUDAPEST CARD the official city pass

FREE AIRPORT SHUTTLE & PUBLIC TRANSPORT FREE sightseeing cruise on the Danube free Buda Castle Funicular* free entry to Matthias Church free chimney cake at Molnár’s kürtôskalács FREE entry to 30+ top Budapest attractions & tours * Tickets are only available at the BUDAPESTINFO POINT office at Deák Ferenc tér!

More information:

budapest-card.com

Responsible Publisher Teodóra Bán Director Publishing Director Diána Monostori Editor Mária Albert Art Director István Práczky Photo Management MitteComm Kft. Cover photo Eszter Gordon Translation Zoltán Csipke

BTFK Non-Profit Ltd. 1052 Budapest, Városház utca 9–11.

Phone +36 1 486 3300 e-mail marketing@budapestinfo.hu Advertising Mária Sali Contact hirdetes@budapestinfo.hu Phone +361 486 3309 ISSN 2064-9894

Published quarterly. All images, texts, graphics and design elements are subject to copyright.

Reproduction, use or imitation is not authorised without permission by law and is subject to criminal liability.

The publication can be ordered via the publisher’s address.

budapestinfo.hu/budapest-s-finest

65