György Ráth Museum

The Ráth György villa is a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest's 6th district (previously it was also a branch of the Hopp Ferenc Asian Art Museum). The villa reopened its doors on September 14, 2018 with the permanent exhibition titled Our Art Nouveau, which presents the most significant pieces of the Museum of Applied Arts' Art Nouveau collection and makes them accessible to the public during the reconstruction work on the Museum of Applied Arts' main building, while also paying a fitting tribute to György Ráth, the museum's first director.

Building

It is located in an eclectic villa built in 1880 in Budapest's 6th district, in the Terézváros, at number 12 Városligeti fasor.

History

György Ráth (1828–1905) was the first director of the Museum of Applied Arts. Through his collection, which was one of the most significant bourgeois collections of the era, he already gained wide recognition in his own time. Like many others, his activity was also driven by interior design. In 1901 he purchased the Városligeti villa, which he furnished with artworks together with his wife. The building was remodeled by Géza Györgyi, the staircase railing was made by the excellent turn-of-the-century metal artist Gyula Jungfer, and the furniture of the stairwell and hall was created based on the ideas of the prominent Hungarian Art Nouveau figure Pál Horti.

Ráth left all his good to his wife, Gizella Melcsiczky. He realized his goal, that his collection would become the property of the Museum of Applied Arts, through his widow, who decided to give the objects as a gift, with the condition that “under the name György Ráth Museum they form a joint and indivisible public whole and constitute a supplementary part of the National Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts, and that they remain under its care.” As a result, from Ráth’s collection the National György Ráth Museum was created in the villa at Fasor. The capital’s new attraction was presented in November 1906 in a ceremonial setting to press representatives, and the ruler Franz Joseph also visited it on 8 January 1907.

The dissolution of the independence of the Ráth Museum and its collections began after the Second World War, with the establishment of the proletarian dictatorship and the advance of socialist ideology: maintaining a bourgeois apartment furnishing, i.e., “the establishment of the Ráth Museum as an independent museum would be completely unjustified from an ideological and didactic point of view, and even harmful.”

At the beginning of 1954 the museum building was placed under the management of the Ferenc Hopp East Asian Museum; the China exhibition was opened and the museum’s name also became China Museum. The artworks belonging to the institution’s original inventory were merged into various museum collections (Museum of Fine Arts, Hungarian National Museum, Hungarian National Gallery, Ferenc Hopp East Asian Museum, Museum of Applied Arts). After the regime change the building regained its original name, and continued to host Eastern exhibitions until its closure in 2014. By then only a memorial room opened in the reconstructed dining room reminded visitors of György Ráth.

From September 14, 2018, the villa reopened under the name Ráth György Villa with the permanent exhibition "Our Secession", which presents the most significant pieces of the Secession collection of the Museum of Applied Arts and makes them accessible to the public during the reconstruction work on the main building of the Museum of Applied Arts, while also paying a fitting tribute to György Ráth, the museum's first director.

Organization

From the estate only the Chinese art collection remained at the Museum of Applied Arts, which was initially operated as the China Museum and, from 1953, again under the name György Ráth Museum. From the beginning, the György Ráth Museum was a branch of the Museum of Applied Arts, operating as a museum exhibition space since 1955. Regular exhibitions are organized here from the collections of the Ferenc Hopp East Asian Art Museum.

From March 1, 2014, the György Ráth Museum, together with the Ferenc Hopp East Asian Art Museum, became a department of the Museum of Fine Arts.

From September 14, 2018, the Museum of Applied Arts reopened the institution, now under the name Ráth György Villa.

The villa's permanent exhibition

The villa revives the last era of the universal style. In the entrance halls, the three defining directions of Secession are presented: the British, Austrian and French Secession. Through Bugatti's exclusive furniture, the influence of Eastern art, as well as the Transylvanian roots appearing in turn-of-the-century Hungarian art and the inspiring role of the Hungarian national past, can be discovered.

The Art Nouveau dining room and reception room offer a glimpse into turn‑of‑the‑century Hungarian homes, where visitors can admire Zsolnay ceramics, Gallé and Tiffany glasses, and Lalique jewellery in a museum‑like arrangement. By the works of two contemporary glass artists inspired by Art Nouveau, creations of the past and present, in keeping with Ráth’s spirit, will be present together in the villa.

The nearly 600 objects displayed in the exhibition represent every branch of applied arts. While the former picture gallery and the historicist dining‑room reconstruction recall the excellent bourgeois art collector born in 190.

The exhibition program is accompanied by professional and subjective guided tours, lectures, workshops, studio visits and museum‑pedagogical activities.