Castlemuseum Nagytétény

The baroque mansion has an exhibition tracing the history of European furniture from Gothic to Biedermeier. Temporary exhibitions, events.

The furniture exhibition staged in the Museum presents the most important works in the furniture collection at the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest. Over the many years of its growth, this collection has become unique in its own right. The most significant examples of its holdings from Hungary and abroad were acquired in the period up to 1914; in the years after 1945 it was primarily the 18th- and 19th-century sections that were augmented. It was in the post-1945 period that the castle at Nagytétény passed to Budapest's Museum of Applied Arts. It has afforded and still affords the opportunity to present furniture in an appropriate setting.

The exhibition "Furniture Art from Gothic to Biedermeier", which opened in spring 2000, introduces European furniture art from the period 1440 to 1850 approximately. In the exhibition, staged over a larger area than formerly, some 300 items of furniture - individual pieces and suites - can be seen in 27 of the castle's rooms. The arrangement, which is tailored to the castle's architecture, follows the history of European furniture in chronological order, presenting the various stylistic periods, and thus the history of applied arts, by means of individual masterpieces rather than by means of interiors. Other furnishings - tiled stoves, tapestries, carpets, chandeliers, and paintings - complement the exhibition. These works are from the same periods as the pieces of furniture they accompany.

The ground floor of the Danube wing houses the first part of the exhibition. Preserving the most of the castle's medieval architectural details, these rooms - with their irregular ground plans and low vaulted ceilings - were most suitable for the display of the Gothic and Renaissance furniture. The material shown here represents European furniture art developing within the framework of medieval joinery.

On the upper floor is displayed the Baroque furniture and fittings of the refectory at the Jesuit house at Trencén (today: Trenčin, Slovakia). The refectory was fitted out between 1732 and 1733; the appointments consist of benches and tables, as well as wood paneling ornamented with portraits of the order's saints and a depiction of the house's founder.

The upper-floor rooms of the castle are adorned with murals: in the rooms of the Danube wing Baroque, Rococo and Classicist "al secco" embellishments succeed each other in chronological order. The murals provide an authentic environment for the furniture; hence we have adjusted the pace of the exhibition to them. In this way, the upper-floor rooms of the castle's Danube (south) wing provide an insight into Baroque, Rococo and Early Classicist furniture art. On the upper floor of the castle's north wing we can view furniture and fittings in the Late Classicist, Empire and Biedermeier styles.

With the help of guide-sheets placed in the rooms visitors can acquire information regarding the artifacts on show. Visitors may also request guided tours (but only in advance; see the section entitled "Services").