Exhibitions

“It is impossible to talk about motifs, melodies or rhythms, about these so-called musical shapes or forms. We must open our ears and hearts, and adjust our spiritual reflective system such that with their help we can first observe the impressions, then secondly ourselves at the moment of artistic enjoyment, and thirdly our contemplating self. Thus nothing else will interest us but who Richard Strauss is, who we ourselves are and whether what we feel is pleasing or unpleasant during that time.”

In 1977, on 100th anniversary of Endre Ady’s birth, at the initiative of art historian Agnes W.Somogyi the Petőfi Literary Museum asked sculptor Miklós Melocco to design a commemorative Ady statue. The composition, which is monumental in size and has been made of plaster, comprises several figures. The statue was finished in November 1977 and was first placed in the stuccoed and mirrored foyer of the Károlyi Palace at the opening of the exhibition ’Ady-picture’, organised by the Museum. In 1998, due to the renovation of the Károlyi Palace, the Ady Altar had to be dismantled and removed. The composition of sculptures was put into its present location in the autumn of 2000, at the opening of the new exhibition halls.