The Pesti Vigadó is reopened and renewed

The refurbished Pesti Vigadó was reopened and Zoltán Balogh – Minister of Human Resources – presented its symbolic key to György Fekete, the president of Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA) at the opening ceremony on 14th March where the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán took part as well.

The artistic and cultural institution was entirely reconstructed with hard-work so that it could be the capital’s beauty. The reason for celebrating the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the renewal of the Pesti Vigadó on the eve of 15th March is that freedom was one of the parents of Hungarian arts – mentioned the Minister in his welcoming speech. He also added that the new owner of the historical monument is the MMA because art is free and “an artist always has his homeland”.

Zoltán Balogh reminded us to the celebration of the renovated Liszt Academy on the 23rd of October last year. Among other things he also mentioned the renewal of Matthias Church and noted that the Ernő Rubic Museum will be built in the next few years.

“The MMA is a big possibility in the Hungarian culture and its meaning is to trust in artists to organize and support the culture since artist are the most dedicated persons” – said the minister. After his welcoming speech he gave the symbolic key of the Vigadó to György Fekete. The president of the MMA made a promise to be a loyal, faithful and decent owner of the Pesti Vigadó. György Fekete also highlighted that the refurbished institution will be the home centre to all branch of art in order to show the great variety of Hungarian arts here.

For that reason, an exhibition of the Kossuth prize awarded ceramist, Imre Schrammel will be opened for the public at the Vigadó Gallery from 28th of Marc. Not only can the Trianon-pieta and the life-sized ceramic nude of the artist be seen but his porcelain figurines like the 3 clown or the Fancy dresses and the carnival princess are also displayed.

However, another exhibition of the Kossuth prize awarded famous architect, Imre Makovecz has already been opened on the fifth-sixth floor of the building on Sunday. During the exhibition the model of the pavilion of Seville World Expo as well as the models of the Catholic Church of Paks and the Community Center of the Visegrád forest can be seen. 60 pictures of the already built and also some of his never completed buildings are exhibited.

Sketch drawings, pictures and work tools are also on view in the 30 showcase at the Makovecz-exhibition. While the exhibition waits its visitors for half a year, the Imre Schrammel-exhibition can be visited only for 3 months.

Moreover, The Budapest Spring Festival included the Vigadó in its locations, too. As part of this Festival a concert will be held here with the co-operation of Erika Miklósa, a famous Hungarian singer. This musical performance called Hungarian Pictures cover the works of Ferenc Liszt, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, László Dubrovay and Sándor Szokolay on 23rd of March.

During the Budapest Spring Festival the Pesti Vigadó will be the home to Chamber Music Performances of some other famous English and Hungarian artists. They include the violin concert of Ádám Banda, the piano concert of Gergely Bogányi or the performances of Kelemen Quartet, The Hillard Ensemble, Alison Balsom and the performance of the Ferenc Liszt chamber orchestra.

Although approximately 70 demonstrators were protested against the cultural policy of the government in front of the Pesti Vigadó on Friday night, the police quickly dispersed them not to disturb the ceremony. The protesters outlined the main problems of the current cultural policy, according to their points of view.