Plans of an Unrealized Thermal Hotel in the Hungarian Museum of Architecture, and its Provenance

Abstract

Hungary’s most important architectural collection is held by the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and Monument Protection Documentation Centre. The repeated reorganization of the Hungarian institutional monument protection system determined the history of the Museum since its foundation in 1968. It moved several times and nowadays still works in a rented office and storage building. The institution operates in its current form together with the Monument Protection Documentation Centre since 2017. The plans for the unrealized hotel of the Széchenyi Baths – one of the main tourist attractions in Budapest – form part of the museum’s collection. The hotel was designed by Ede Dvořák, the architect of the baths. For financial reasons, the hotel was never realized. The museum acquired the bequest of Ede Dvořák in 1979, together with several items from his former superior, Győző Czigler. This article presents the history of the plans and their author, then focuses on the provenance of the bequest which is a remarkable collection of the museum from the era of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

Keywords: Hungary; architecture; design; collection; provenance