Magyar Fotográfiai Múzeum

The Hungarian Photographic Museum is Hungary's first institution specifically dedicated to the presentation of photography, photographic art, the organized preservation and storage of works, and also the first domestic museum funded by a foundation. It was opened in 1991 in Kecskemét, its sponsor being the Hungarian Photographic Foundation.

The museum preserves, among other things, daguerreotypes – the first made in 1840 – as well as several hundred thousand positives and negatives. In addition, documents, cameras, photographic equipment, and laboratory tools also enrich the collection.

History

At first, in 1861 Hungarian photographers proposed that there was a need for the organized preservation and storage of works. Then in 1881 Ferenc Veress, founder of the profession's first trade journal, expressed in the Budapest Hírlap the importance of establishing a national, permanent photographic exhibition in Budapest. Almost a hundred years later, in 1989 the president of the Hungarian Photographic Artists Association, István Katona, appealed to television public opinion about the deplorable storage conditions of their valuable collection, as they had until then been accumulated in cabinets in inaccessible places at the association's Budapest headquarters. At that time the Bács-Kiskun County and the Kecskemét city council offered the old orthodox synagogue in Kecskemét for the purpose of a photographic museum.

The institution is also notable for being the country's first museum funded by a foundation. The Hungarian Photographic Foundation operating the museum was initiated by the federation with the aim of rescuing photographs, negatives, and artworks of incalculable artistic value. Under the leadership of the institution's first director, Kincses Károly, they created a professional base in which they professionally preserve, protect, process, and present to the public, among other things, through permanent and temporary exhibitions and publications, valuable and interesting materials of Hungarian photographic history. At its start, the collection comprised hundreds of thousands of artworks and documents. The core collection of the museum was begun by the Hungarian Photographers' Association in 1958.

The first public exhibition was held in March 1992 in Kecskemét, featuring works by the Kecskemét-born photographer Simonyi Antal. By 2006, with a collection of 1,142,000 images, under the direction of Kincses Károly and Kolta Magdolna, and without municipal or central budget support, the museum became an internationally known institution, and in 2006 Péter Baki took over its leadership.

The museum carries out professional scientific work. In addition to usual museum services, it also deals with making authentic copies, restoration, purchasing, selling, and appraising photographs. Its library, database, and photographic collection are also available to researchers.

Since 2006, in addition to museum activities, it participates in operating the professional internet portal launched in 2003 at the web address fotoklikk.eu; the maintainer of this photo and videography archive and community portal is the FotoKlikk a Fotográfiáért Közhasznú Alapítvány, founded by Kincses Károly in 2006.

According to 2024 data, the museum, which already holds about seven hundred thousand works of art of Hungarian and universal significance, will operate from 2025 as a new department of the Museum of Fine Arts under the name National Museum of Photographic Art in Budapest.

Kecskemét

The museum’s first home, opened in 1991, was the former orthodox synagogue in Kecskemét. Previously, the plot located at the corner of Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street and József Katona Square was originally built with a gabled roof. In 1890, the building with a front façade was remodeled by Loth István (with master builder József Bíró) and shortly thereafter housed the Loth-run restaurant “Food and Dance Hall for the Pista” at 4 Mezei Street. Then, in 1918, the freestanding, single‑storey, rectangular‑plan Art Nouveau building complex was constructed.

Since the Orthodox community that served the Orthodox Jews separated in 1917, it had to rent worship space due to the lack of its own synagogue during the major autumn holidays, so the community purchased this building in 1918 and that same year converted it for synagogue use. The choice of location by the traditionalist Orthodox community can be explained by the building’s good site characteristics and central location. At that time, during the construction of the women's gallery, the former dance hall was raised, with a covered stairway behind the building leading to it. The men's entrance was placed on the façade perpendicular to the street. The 141.5 square‑metre space was surrounded on three sides by a gallery on the east side at a height of about four metres, except for the wall containing the Torah niche. The work was overseen by local resident Mihály Kiss.

The space between the synagogue and the street front was built up with shops that members of the congregation could use or rent. The lower plane of its ceiling was originally framed with leaf ornaments, in the middle with the well‑known octagonal motif placed in the Star of David. The decorative figurative representations on the ceiling, together with the Hebrew inscriptions, depicted the parables read in the Talmud and the allegories of the Fathers’ sayings. In 1944 this was one of the gathering places for the local Jews. The congregation’s membership fell to 5‑6 persons. The congregation’s liturgical objects, all the equipment of the synagogue, were taken to Budapest.

After the Second World War it was used for various purposes, there were shops and storage rooms in it until it was declared dangerous, and then it stood empty for a long time. In 1987, in order to preserve the Art Nouveau fresco, the paintings on the ceiling between the roof and the arch‑supporting slab consoles were declared a monument. In 1989 renovation began for the first time, according to the initial plans (1987) a puppet theatre would have opened in the building at the intersection of Katona József Square and Bánk bán Street.