The exhibition shows the different techniques that the museum's staff of experts has used to restore thousands of artworks over the years. The process of cleaning and completing artworks which have suffered the effects of age, such as medieval sculptures and panel paintings, is presented alongside pieces which are still undergoing restoration. Among these partially-restored works of art is the gallery's biggest item, the main altar of Saint John the Baptist. Also included in the exhibition is one of the museum's most famous and successful examples of restoration: Csontváry's painting Pilgrimage to the Cedars in Lebanon. The exhibition will feature still lifes by Ádám Mányoki, a wooden statue from the 15th century and artwork severely damaged in WWII. The exhibition will be open until August 20, 2007.
The Hungarian National Gallery opened on May 23, 1957 in the building which currently houses the Museum of Ethnography on Kossuth Square. The institution, established to show the works of Hungarian artists, based its collection on modern sculpture and graphic works as well as coins from the Museum of Fine Arts' New Hungarian Collection.
The National Gallery moved to its present location, in the Buda Palace, in 1973. Its collection was also expanded with works from the Museum of Fine Arts' Old Hungarian Collection, which covered the period from the 11th century until the present. Pieces from the collection, which included Gothic paintings and wooden statues, as well as works from the Late Renaissance and Baroque periods, were put on public display at the National Gallery in 1979.
Three years later, in the palace's former throne room, a permanent exhibition of Late Gothic altars and Medieval and Renaissance stonework opened, and in 1989, the Habsburg crypt, on the ground floor of the palace's "C" building, was opened to the public.
Two years ago, the National Gallery expanded its exhibition space in the "A" building of the palace after its former occupant, the Ludwig Museum, moved across the Danube to the Palace of Arts.
Author: Gabriella Valaczkay
