Pesti Vigadó

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Pesti Vigadó seen from the opposite bank of the Danube (2013)

The Pesti Vigadó , also known as the Pest Redoute , is a ball and concert hall in Budapest . It is located on the left bank of the Danube between the Chain Bridge and the Elisabeth Bridge in the 5th district in downtown Pest . The Vigadó was built from 1860 to 1864 according to plans by Frigyes Feszl in the romantic style and was last renovated from 2004 to 2014. The neo-classical predecessor building by Mihály Pollack at the same location existed from 1829 to 1849.

history

First concert hall (Redoute)

View of the first Pest Concert Hall (Redoute), undated

The first concert hall (ung. Vigadó ) of Pest, which was originally called the Redoute , was located in the same block as the German Theater Pest, which was completed in 1812 . While the theater was oriented towards today's Vörösmarty tér , the representative facade of the concert hall faced the Danube. The two parts of the building complex were planned together at the beginning of the 19th century, but for cost reasons only the German theater was built initially. It was not until 1829 to 1832 that the redoubt was built according to plans by the architect Mihály Pollack , who had revised Johann Amann's original design . The building in the classicist style shaped the image of the Pest bank of the Danube primarily through its portico with six Ionic columns . The interior was also beautifully decorated. In addition to a large and a small concert or ballroom, the concert hall also contained a pastry shop, a coffee house and a restaurant.

The redoubt was destroyed in the bombing of Pest during the siege of Ofen in 1849 .

Second concert hall

Pesti Vigadó with the forecourt Vigadó tér (2017)
Reconstructed staircase of the Vigadó (2014)

The new construction of the concert hall, of which only ruins were left, took place from 1860 to 1864 according to plans by the architect Frigyes Feszl . The construction of the Vigadó is considered to be the highlight of the romantic architectural era in Hungary. The building was inaugurated with a ball on January 15, 1865. The central elements were the halls on the first floor, which were used for balls, concerts and celebrations. In addition, as in the previous building, the Vigadó housed a coffee house, a restaurant and a beer cellar. It thus became a kind of “salon of the state capital”.

During the time of the Kingdom of Hungary , the Vigadó was the most important ball and concert hall in the capital Budapest, which was united in 1873 . The works of Franz Liszt , Béla Bartók , who made his debut here in 1905, Johann Strauss , Antonín Dvořák and Claude Debussy were performed. Liszt and Richard Wagner organized a benefit concert together in Vigadó in 1875 for the construction of the Bayreuth Festival Hall . Artur Rubinstein , Ernő Dohnányi and Annie Fischer were among the pianists who performed at the Vigadó in the early 20th century .

The concert hall was badly damaged in the Second World War . It was not until the late 1950s that the communist leadership granted permission to rebuild the Vigadó, which lasted from 1968 to 1980. In addition to its old function as a concert hall, the building now also housed numerous art exhibitions in the Vigadó Gallery as a replacement for the National Salon, which was demolished in 1960 .

The concert hall was closed in 2004 and then renovated, with the interior from the 19th century being partially reconstructed. Among other things, the small concert hall, the stairwell and the lobby were restored and a viewing terrace was added. The Vigadó was officially reopened on March 14, 2014.

literature

  • Dénes Komárik: The Vigadó Concert Hall in Pest . In: József Sisa (ed.): Motherland and Progress. Hungarian Architecture and Design 1800–1900 . Birkhäuser, Basel 2016, ISBN 978-3-0356-1009-3 , p. 300-307 .

Web links

Commons : Pesti Vigadó  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ József Sisa: Motherland and Progress. Hungarian Architecture and Design 1800–1900 , pp. 86–89.
  2. ^ József Sisa: Motherland and Progress. Hungarian Architecture and Design 1800–1900 , p. 264.
  3. ↑ Dénes Komárik: The Vigadó Concert Hall in Pest. In: Motherland and Progress , p. 303.
  4. ^ A b History of the Pesti Vigadó. Story on Pesti Vigadó website, 2014, accessed April 18, 2020.

Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 45.2 ″  N , 19 ° 2 ′ 58 ″  E