Majolica marvels restored

Half of Budapest’s male population fell into a funk some four years ago, when the papers announced that the Gellért men’s baths were to close for restoration.A certain cross-section of the capital’s men was especially devoted to the Gellért Baths, due to its many possibilities for sport, fun and relaxation. Devotees of its special opulent, elegant, yet cozy atmosphere – in which they felt free to delve into the fullest pleasures of bathing, alla antica – were devastated by the closing.Although Budapest has more than 118 thermal baths, the Gellért’s fans were not happy to take up residence elsewhere.“Yes, I know there are is the Lukács; the Rudas; the Széchenyi, but I just do not feel at home there,” declared Laci bácsi, one of the old devotees, when the baths were closed for the restoration.“Nothing can compare with the feeling of entering the huge covered bathing hall, of being greeted by staff I have known for more than 40 years.... Entering the steam-filled halls... just makes my problems fade away, and I am lost in another time and space, where pleasures include meeting and conversing with my haverok (pals), wandering from pool to pool and from sauna, to sauna....“After, I used to have a sandwich and a mokka (espresso) at Manci’s stand in the grandiose bathing hall, where I would sit on the leather-covered benches, just contemplating the beauty of the painted-glass ceiling... and the lovely white marble nymph sitting gracefully atop a pedestal in the decorative pool at the end of the hall.”The Gellért Baths have existed for centuries, first as medicinal mud baths, along with many other thermal waters in this area.It is no wonder that the third century conquerors of the region, the Romans, named this area Aquincum (City of Waters) specifically for its many curative thermal water sources, which are also mentioned in the 1433 account of the famed Turkish traveller/raconteur Evlia Chelebi.As Budapest developed during the centuries, the Gellért spa hotel became one of the jewels of Budapest, officially accorded the title of the “Thermal Capital” of Europe in 1937.When it was opened in the early 20th century, the Gellért spa hotel complex became one of high society’s favored destinations, with its stunning, unique, colorful, aquamarine Zsolnay pyrogranite and majolica-clad interior bathing facilties, banquettes, fantastic water-spouts, the Inner Winter Garden (now the Champagne Pool), ceramic statues, lion’s head fountains, huge columns, inner Grand Hall, and outer pool, surrounded with terraced gardens.Laci bácsi’s Gellért nymph in her Zsolnay-mosaic niche at the end of the Grand Bathing Hall, is featured on the cover of the international socialite Diane von Fürstenberg’s coffee-table book, published by Random House, NY, in1993.The hotel complex was designed by the Lechner-inspired team of architects Ármin Hegedüs, Artúr Sebestyén, and Izidor Sterk, and was built from 1911-1918.The First and Second World Wars did untold damage to the complex, though. Allied bombers, which strafed the quais of the Danube, all but destroyed the women’s baths, a mirror image of the men’s facilities.Art historian Zsuzsa Urbach recalls, “We just drove by the Gellért, and there were all these pieces of Zsolnay majolica dumped out on the sidewalk, and we picked out some lions’ heads, masks, parapet pieces and tiles, whatever we could get into the car, and simply took them home.” She still has them in her attic. During the Communist régime, the hotel and baths were put under separate management, an arrangement which holds to this day.In the 1970s, there was an attempt to renovate the war-torn hotel. An East German team stripped the complex down to practical essentials, and turned the once fabulous outdoor pool area, with its mysterious grottos, hanging terraced gardens and majolica arches, into today’s cold, shadeless, dead-white tile-covered arena, which looks more like a huge ugly uncovered bathroom.Still, what was left of the Zsolnay-clad baths, and some specs outdoors, make the Gellért an overall unique attraction.The spectacular, Hungarian art nouveau- style baths are one of the world’s eight wonders, according to the Italian majolica expert, Professor Dr Giancarlo Bojani, former Director of the Museum of Ceramics at Faenza (among the most prestigious and oldest ceramics museums in the world).The professor was actually in Budapest for the opening of The Dowry of Queen Beatrice d’Anjou exhibition which has just gone on show at the Museum of Applied Arts.Bojani and famed collector of majolica Dr Alessandro Bettini got a private viewing of the men’s baths, when I took them to the spa, then still in the process of restoration, accompanied by the genial young restorer, László Czifrák (pictured), who oversaw the very delicate restoration of all of the Zsolnay pyrogranite and majolicas.
AmazedThe Italians, whose world is a mini-cosmos of precious fragments, small pieces of centuries-old majolica, and a few, very important entire platters and jugs, which have exceptionally remained intact for more than 500 years, were amazed to find themselves in the Gellért’s surroundings.“It is like being in heaven,” declared Bojani, struck by the shimmering effect of the strong aquamarine blue, restored to its original beauty, but with the added fine touch of having the signs of the ravages of time preserved – the calcification from the salts as the waters drip into the pools – which Czifrák had the eye and heart to conserve.The Italians marvelled at the uncommon combination of the embracing neo-Baroque puttos, with the fine vari-colored Zsolnay mosaic, decorated with unusual Hungarian folk motifs.“Wonderful, strange, unique,” enthused the Italians, as they congratulated the young restorer. This is quite a distinction, for the Italians lead in the field of restoration.Speaking in near-perfect Italian, our young restorer recounted to them his education in Hungary, and at the Centro di Restauro di Roma, his teaching stages, and his experiences in New York, where he doctored up several private Zsolnay collections during 2002-2003.The restored Gellért men’s baths are now open to the public, and are a complement to the spectacular country-wide activities on the Renaissance theme, celebrating the 550th Anniversary of the Coronation of the great King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, back in 1458.

Esther Vécsey
www.budapestsun.com - Wednesday, April 23, 2008