Emblematic Budapest Building of the Romantic Era Turns 160

One hundred and sixty years ago, on January 15, 1865, the Vigadó of Pest (Pesti Vigadó) opened its gates to the public, and has been functioning as a center of social and cultural life ever since. The work of architect Frigyes Feszl was not much appreciated by the public or the professionals at the time, but it later became a symbol of Hungarian Romantic architecture, writes Magyar Nemzet.

In the 18th century, on the site of today’s Vigadó, there was a roundel protecting Pest from the north, which was demolished in 1789. A theater was intended to be built in its place. The predecessor of the Vigadó was built by Mihály Pollack, the architect of the Hungarian National Museum. The building, named Redoute, was completed in 1832, and opened to the public a year later.

Before the 1848 Revolution and War of Independence, the Redoute was Pest’s only concert hall.

It was the venue of the charity concert after the great flood of 1838 in Pest, and the first concert after the flood was given by Ferenc Liszt, who played the Rákóczi March for the first time in the concert hall.

It was also the venue of the first National Assembly during the revolution. On July 11, 1848, the delegates offered 200,000 recruits and 42 million forints for the defense of the country in the concert hall. During the siege of Buda in May 1849, Heinrich Hentzi, the commander of the Austrian-occupied Buda Castle, destroyed the building in revenge.

The rebuilding was first entrusted to József Hild in 1852, but due to lack of funds, the work was never started. Finally, in 1859, Frigyes Feszl was commissioned to design the new Vigadó, and construction work started the following year. The building was opened with a grand ball on January 15, 1865.

Feszl’s work was not appreciated by the public or the professionals at the time, but later became a symbol of Hungarian Romantic architecture.

For a long time, the building was referred to by its old name, Redoute, and later derisively as Vigarda, but the name Vigadó was eventually adopted.

Feszl wanted to decorate the interior walls of the building with mosaics, but the Pest City Council decided in favor of paintings, making it the first public building in Pest to be decorated with frescoes.

The building soon became a popular center of cultural life in Pest. The concert hall was also used for balls and receptions, and the emperor himself attended the ball held in 1867, to celebrate the coronation of Franz Joseph I. The unification of Pest, Buda, and Óbuda, the birth of Budapest, was celebrated here in 1873.

Johann Strauss, Mascagni, Antonín Dvorák, the orchestra of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (Hungary’s oldest orchestra), Ernő Dohnányi, and Annie Fischer made their debuts here. It was also in the Vigadó that Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto in B flat major premiered in 1881, with the German composer himself playing the solo and the orchestra conducted by Sándor Erkel.

In 1945, the Vigadó was so badly damaged that there was a debate about whether or not it should be restored.

In 1954, it was listed as a historic monument, and in the late 1950s, at the insistence of experts, it was allowed to be rebuilt.

Construction began in 1968, and the renovated building reopened on March 12, 1980, with 660-seat and 200-seat halls, along with an exhibition gallery. The concert hall also hosted important artists during this period, including the internationally renowned Hungarian pianist, György Cziffra.

The Vigadó, with only traces of its former beauty left, closed in 2004, and a new project was launched to restore it to its original state, taking into account the historic preservation aspects. The Hungarian Academy of Arts acquired ownership of the Vigadó in 2013, and reopened on March 14, 2014.

Via Magyar Nemzet, Featured image: Wikipedia