Architects: dr. MÁTÉ Zsolt (VÁTI), DOBOZI Miklós, PÁLYI Gábor
The palace is a typical example of baroque architecture in Central Europe and the only faithfully reconstructed royal residence in Hungary. The successful reconstruction and utilization of the historic complex was awarded the first prize of the Hungarian Real Estate Association in 2013 and an international Prix d`Excellence gold category award by FIABCI in 2014.
The Royal Palace in Gödöllő is one of the most important national monuments in Hungary both from the historic and the artistic aspect, it is a well known tourist destination which attracts many visitors. The palace is also a historic memorial site, in addition to its significance in art history. Construction of the palace began in 1733 and it had been continuously enlarged until the death of its founder, Antal Grassalkovich. The palace became a royal residence in 1867, after the Grassalkovich family had died out. In the following fifty years, Emperor Franz Josef ruled his empire from here occasionally, but the he real attraction of the palace was the presence of Queen Elisabeth, loved by the Hungarians. Later on, the palace served as the governor’s residence. It was badly misused after 1945, its condition began to deteriorate quickly. Survey and research work began in 1982 at VÁTI (Urban Design Institute) and a program of conservation and reconstruction whad been outlined, starting from 1985. The condition of the building was stabilized by successful interventions. Reconstruction began in the early 1990s and the general design of the project was taken over by KÖZTI. VÁTI continued to work on the architectural design, the heritage issues and some minor technical details. Zsolt Máté dr remained the architect of the historical reconstruction and Miklós Dobozi was the technical manager and coordinator as project architect. After his death, architect Gábor Pályi took over this role.
Birth of the Palace Museum 1992-1998. The Palace Museum with the royal apartments, the first phase of the reconstruction, was opened in 1996. The public area was extended by new wings in the following years. The Lipót wing with its church oratory was reconstructed in baroque style and the Elisabeth wing in a more bourgeois style. Reconstruction of the mouldings and gilding have been made using the original materials and technologies everywhere. An important outcome of the building survey was the discovery of some beautiful baroque figural and decorative wall paintings, which had been overpainted in the royal period.
These have been restored and can be seen in the interiors.
Reconstruction of the Baroque Theatre 2000-2003. One of the great attractions of this stately home, which had organised the cultural life of the neighbourhood, was the baroque theatre with wing scenery. Later, in the royal period, the outdated theatre was converted to a three-storey building, with rooms in the auditorium area. It was a completely novel task to research the original layout and to reconstruct the theatre. First the original spatial structure and decorations had to be found and reconstructed, which was quite a feat of structural design. The reconstructed baroque theatre, quite rare in Europe, had to be authentic and functional as well. In order to avoid spoiling the image of the historic building, the auxiliary service areas, necessary for the modern operation of the theatre, have been built underground, hidden by the lawn of the garden. The Baroque Theatre was opened in late 2003 with a gala performance.
Reconstruction of the Riding Hall and the Baroque Stable 2008-2010. Active cultural life had returned to the palace again, but a 1800 square metre ruinous area remained in the main building, hidden by the renovated facades as Potemkin walls. The reconstruction of these parts of the buildings – the Gizella and Rudolf wings, connecting the central wing with the riding hall, as well as Miklós Horthy’s wartime bunker and Queen Elisabeth’s wooden veranda – and their transformation into exhibition and multipurpose areas were funded by the European Union. The palace was one of the venues of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union in 2011. The required approximately five hundred square metre meeting hall could be accommodated in the riding hall, the auxiliary functional areas, mechanical and security systems with extraordinary spatial requirements were located at the new basement built under the riding hall for this purpose. The cloakroom and the foyer were accommodated in the baroque stables. The refurbished high quality cast iron stalls of the royal period were used as cloakroom boxes.
Location: Gödöllő, Szabadság tér 5.
Built: Central, Erzsébet and Lipót wings: 1998 Baroque theatre: 2003 Rudolf and Gizella wings, riding hall and baroque stable: 2010
Architects: dr. MÁTÉ Zsolt (VÁTI), DOBOZI Miklós, PÁLYI Gábor Interior architects: PLACHTOVICS Vilmos, SCHINAGL Gábor
Area: Central wing: 1854 m2 Erzsébet and Lipót wings: 1162 m2 Baroque theatre: 1184 m2 Rudolf and Gizella wings: 1811 m2 Riding hall and baroque stable: 1630 m2
