Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Péter Kiss dedicated the new elevator, which was built with HUF 40 million in state support.
?The cultural world has its eyes on Hungary and we are proud of the achievements of this 100 year-old intellectual workshop,? Kiss said. ?The building of this new elevator has made it possible for all visitors to see Van Gogh?s works.?
Museum director László Baán said the museum?s main task remains to enable as many people as possible to enjoy art.
In the first two days since it opened, ?Van Gogh in Budapest? has attracted around 10,000 people, twice as many as visited last year?s ?Monet and His Friends?, which broke all records for exhibitions organised at the museum, Baán said. At this rate, the exhibition should attract about 500,000 visitors over the next three and a half months, he added.
Many visitors had bought their tickets in advance, so there were no lines in front of the museum, Baán said. Nearly 40,000 tickets were sold in advance for the Van Gogh exhibition.
Turnover at the recently opened museum shop has doubled since the opening of the Van Gogh exhibition, Baán said. Especially popular is a poster printing machine, which can turn out high-quality prints of several famous works on display in the exhibition.
Budapest?s Museum of Fine Arts is celebrating its centenary with the exhibition of Van Gogh paintings the like of which has not been seen in the region for more than a hundred years.
More than 40 museums, including Amsterdam?s Van Gogh Museum, the Musée D'Orsay in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are lending works for the exhibition.
?Van Gogh in Budapest? is open every day except for Monday from 9:00 to 18:00. The exhibition runs until March 20.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
