Decision to support the Andrássy Memorial Museum

In March 2018 the Hungarian Government decided to acquire approx. 1.300m2 of the Andrássy palota from the 1^st District Municipality and from the City of Budapest (decree 1087/2018 III 13) for the exclusive use of the Andrássy Memorial Museum to be run by the Hungarian National Museum with the co-operation of AGyA. The decision was strengthened by a further decree (1081/2018 XII 21) in December 2018 which confirmed deadlines by which the property must become available. The transfer of ownership took place 31^st December 2018. The Budavári Művelődési Ház which occupies part of this space will move out by the end of 2020 to a magnificent building – the former Polgári Casino at Krisztina tér 1 – which is being completely re-built for them.

The space acquired by the state of 390m2 approx. on the first floor accessed by a grand staircase comprises the main salons which will form the core of the permanent museum dedicated to Andrássy Gyula, Andrássy Tivadar his elder son, supporter of the Applied Arts Museum and patron of painter József Rippl-Rónai, and Andrássy Gyula his younger brother who was the last foreign minister of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and a famous connoisseur and art collector. A replica of the unique secessionist Rippl-Rónai dining room commissioned by Andrássy Tivadar in 1897 will also be sited in this area containing the iconic tapestry of Andrássy Tivadar’s wife, Zichy Eleonóra, “ The lady in a red dress”.

This part of the museum will occupy about 30% of the total space. More than double this – approx. 800m2, the entire ground floor – will be occupied by the museum dedicated to temporary exhibitions and the sustainable support for this comprising offices for researchers and specialists working on the processing and digitisation of the Andrássy Archives, museum staff, exhibition hall of 110m2, visitor center and sponsors club and an office for AGyA. The business plan of the Memorial Museum incorporates regular temporary exhibitions which will be of interest to a contemporary visitor group in particular younger people familiar with digital and virtual reality technology and sponsored primarily by foreign entities.