László Czifrák
Experience from the Conservation of the Zsolnay Architectural Ceramics in the Entrance Hall of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts
The aim of this article is to highlight the exquisiteness and specific character of Zsolnay ceramics, which had become well-known by the end of the nineteenth century and were an important and expressive tool in Hungarian architectural decoration of the era. The uniqueness of these Zsolnay decorative ceramics originates from their high standard of craftsmanship, a great result of human ambition, zeal and empirical knowledge. It is more surprising, however, that this small family workshop took little more than two or three decades to reach the level of the large European porcelain and faience factories. In the beginning, their craftsmanship was mostly focused on the manufacture of porcelain faience and smaller decorative pieces. As market demands broadened and Zsolnay realized the opportunities in architecture, the production and development of architectural ceramics received additional focus from him as well. Zsolnay had a very close personal relationship with the great contemporary figures of Hungarian architecture, such as Frigyes Schulek, Ödön Lechner, Imre Steindl and others.1 Some of these were good friends of his and even stayed at the Zsolnay factory as guests, which is verified by the memoirs of his daughter. The following quotation is taken from her memoirs: “The architects lived with us. Our most frequent guests were Frigyes Schulek and Ödön Lechner, and this was the time when their lifelong friendship with my father and our family started.”2 In the preliminary period, architectural ceramic decorations were first made of terracotta. The Italian term terracotta means “fired ground”, and it means clay that is shaped and fired after a cleaning process. It is usually unglazed but sometimes is painted with engobe before firing, such as the ornamental ceramics of the Hungarian Parliament Building and the Opera House. In the history of architecture, the term architectural terracotta
became popular in the nineteenth century for the fired clay made for exterior facings. Terracotta and majolica were preferred in both the Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance styles due to the inspiration from these historic periods.3 However, following the initial experiences, the raw material of the traditional terracotta was altered, and thanks to additional material experiments, Vilmos Zsolnay and his team of experts developed their very own and unique raw material. This special ceramic type was given the name ‘pyrogranite’, and it was constantly being mass produced and further developed through research from 1890 forward. Due to this, he created a material that was suitable for durable building decorations. From the end of the nineteenth century, numerous buildings in Budapest and a significant number of cities in the countryside were decorated with pyrogranite.4 Zsolnay pyrogranite proved to be a much more durable material for architectural decorations than those based on limestone, mortar or plaster, and mass production was also simpler since it used a set of negative forms.5 It is important to note, that over the period of more than one hundred years that has passed, these materials have also been damaged by the effects of weather, wars, and ever-increasing pollution. Because of this, by the end of the twentieth century the condition of these architectural ceramics had deteriorated to such an extent, that their restoration has today become increasingly urgent. However, due to the aforementioned sources of damage, there have been constant efforts at repair, but the methods employed were not always professional and so in certain cases their condition worsened even more drastically. This was because the earlier experts had not gained enough experience to develop appropriate techniques. Therefore, it is significant that since 11
