The 25-year-old building was renovated inside and out. Its steel framework was replaced during the course of the project as were it gigantic glass windows. Ramps were built and a lift installed to make the site accessible to people with physical disabilities. The centre?s stage area was also rebuilt to allow for the seating area to be sunk underneath the floor, creating a dance space. The stage area can now seat 1,000.
Szolnok?s mayor Mrs. Lajos Botka said at the ceremony that the local council had made an open call for suggestions for a new name for the centre. Several dozen suggestions were made, from which the council picked the name of Vilmos Aba-Novák. At the same time the centre was renamed, an exhibition of Aba-Novák?s paintings opened there. The exhibition, called ?Breathing Life Works? is open until December 31.
Vilmos Aba-Novák (1894-1941), apprenticed with Adolf Fényes in the Szolnok colony for a year in 1913. In the summer of 1921 and 1923 he visited Nagybánya and in 1928-1930 he was on scholarship by the Hungarian Academy of Rome. From 1930, already a well known artist, he spent more time in Szolnok and even brought his students there. Among his best known works are a fresco in the church of Jászszentandrás and paintings on Heroes? Gate in Szeged. The paintings in Szeged were whitewashed after1945, but completely restored a few years earlier.
