Dr Baán's first initiative in his new post - new director of Budapest Museum of Fine Arts- was to order the sprucing up of the museum's long-neglected lawns and the dismantling of an ugly two-metre high chipboard fence that had surrounded the massive neo-Classical building for the past ten years, erected for renovation work that never happened. In his opening speech Dr Báan declared, to great applause, "I have finally had the chance to wipe away that absurd bit of horror. One that I had to put up with for years as a Budapest citizen."The Budapest museum's new director plans to complete renovation works in the museum's galleries, many of which still have Communist-era lighting and heating; build a new underground extension modelled on the Louvre's, with rooms for exhibitions, cafe and shops; establish better international relationships with museum directors to bring travelling exhibitions to Budapest; and to introduce new marketing and press strategies to raise the museum's profile abroad. Most of all, says Dr Baán, he wants to restore "joy" to the museum, for both visitors and curators.
The State will fund the estimated $50 million renovation work, and Dr Baán is to arrange private finance initiatives to the tune of $18 million for the new extension (by Hungarian standards these figures represent very significant amounts). Dr Baán is already in talks with mobile phone company Vodafone and T-Mobile for potential sponsorship. In his inaugural speech, he also thanked Tibor Veres "one of Hungary’s wealthiest citizens", for donations towards a new acquisitions fund.
The museum's encyclopedic holdings include hundreds of Old Masters, such as the Esterhazy Madonna by Raphael, paintings by El Greco, Velasquez, Duccio, Veronese, and the only known sculpture by Leonardo, a small bronze of a horse and rider. There are also departments of Egyptian antiquities, Classical antiquities, French impressionists, Modern and contemporary art. The graphics collection includes over 8,000 works, the core of which comes from the Esterhazy Collection, amassed by one of Hungary's foremost wealthiest families. Its highlights include drawings by Leonardo, Durer, Raphael, Poussin and Rembrandt.
December 17, 2004
