Building CEU

March 10, 2011 - December 31, 2011

The exhibition presents a history of CEU through its structures, tracing the separate stories of the Monument Building (Festetics Palace, 9 Nádor Street) and the Open Society Archives (Goldberger House, 32 Arany János Street) from their construction to the present day. The final segment lays out current plans for campus redevelopment against a backdrop of thought-provoking visualizations of some of the never implemented designs for the main university buildings.

One learns from the documents that the building known as the Festetics Palace was commissioned by Antal Festetics, who entrusted Mihály Pollack with the design of the edifice. The construction of the two sections of the palace was carried out between 1820 and 1827. The building remains an elegant monument of this era. Through several reconstructions and changes in ownership, its beauty and solemnity were successfully preserved - its characteristic spaces, façades, and embellishments remained intact.

The Goldberger House was built in 1910-1911, according to designs by the architects Dávid Jónás and Zsigmond Jónás, to serve as the headquarters of the Goldberger textile factory. The documents reveal the building's changing function during the century as reflected in architectural reconstructions. After being nationalized in 1948, the building was used as storage for the National Textile Factory (Röviköt, later Centriköt). In 1981, Konsumex opened its exclusive "dollar shop" on the site, selling goods for foreign currency. Through the changing times, the Goldberger House retained its characteristic attributes as a modern office building.

The story of the buildings is depicted through archival photos and architectural plans and includes background information on the architectural history and on the people who planned, built, owned, and lived and worked in these buildings. The fate of both buildings and their "utilization" following nationalization after 1945 perfectly encapsulates this period in Hungarian history. Today, these two emblematic buildings serve as worthy venues for this esteemed institution of learning.

The exhibition was prepared by OSA in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the CEU and will be displayed intermittently throughout the year in the CEU Octagon area.

Curator: Judit Izinger
Design: Miklós Tamási

The following institutions and organizations contributed to the realization of the exhibition:
Association for Budapest Urban Heritage Protection, Photographic Group (BVE FCS)
Budapest City Archives
Hungarian National Museum, Collection of Historical Photographs
Hungarian National Museum, Historical Portraits Gallery
Hungarian News Agency
Kiscell Museum of the Budapest History Museum, Photographic Collection (BTM Kiscell FT)
Köztigon Architects' Studio (Köztigon Studio)
László Iványi and the PLANART architects' studio
Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Budapest Collection
National Office of Cultural Heritage, Photographic Collection (KÖH)
"A" Studio '90 Építésztervező Kft.

Special thanks to: László Iványi architect, Máté Millisits art historian, and colleagues at the Open Society Archives.

For more information, please see the Goldberger House on our site and the Festetics Palace on the website of the CEU. Both are based on the material from this exhibition. Unfortunately, some photographs and all the architectural plans could not be published online due to unforeseen fees imposed by the Budapest City Archives.