Exhibition about the Hungarian aristocracy was a big hit in China

According to origo.hu, more than 700,000 visitors were interested in the Hungarian National Museum’s Sissi and Hungary – the Hungarian aristocracy’s luxurious life in the 17-19^th century exhibition introduced in June in Shanghai. After the big success, the exhibition traveled further to Beijing, the Forbidden City and was opened on the 27^th of September.

The exhibition presents the life of the aristocratic families in the past 400 years and the medieval and modern Hungary with more than 150 works of art in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Furthermore, the Chinese audience can also get to know the aristocrats’ attitude towards the House of Habsburg.

The story is presented by an institute with such great past that it is part of the story itself, as the Hungarian National Museum was founded by the earl, Ferenc Széchényi 215 years ago.

By founding the museum the earl and the aristocracy’s aim was to create a universal Hungarian collection of culture and history.

Just like in the past decades, today’s historians and curators of the institute intend to present the country’s rich history through the Hungarian nobility’s artefacts in the Asian metropolis.

The Hungarian aristocracy lived in abundance and was educated on a high level for many centuries, although being an aristocrat did not only indicate wealth but, more importantly, the good manners and the deep, international cultural wisdom besides the suitability of being a leader and the conservation of the warrior virtue.

Clothing, furniture, pictures, jewellery and weapons being presented in Beijing are not just there to show the Hungarian aristocracy’s everyday extravagance but they also give opportunity to express

the immeasurable wealth in which their owners lived and the gap between those and the society’s other ranks.

Apart from the artefacts, outstanding pieces of Hungarian historical painting and graphic arts are exhibited, among others the portrayal of also-today-beloved Queen Maria Theresa and Queen Elizabeth.

Translated by Dorina Haász

Featured image: www.facebook.com/MagyarNemzetiMúzeum

Ce: bm

Source: http://www.origo.hu/