Additions to the history of Hungarian medieval royal centre rehabilitations in the interwar period

Abstract

After the Treaty of Trianon (1920) the long-destroyed medieval royal centres of Hungary could be used as sites to replace the “lost historic monuments” on the areas separated from Hungary.In 1934, the art historian Tibor Gerevich, a famed person in Italian-Hungarian cultural diplomacy became the Chairman of the National Committee of Historic Monuments. The Committee lead three iconic works among others during this era: the excavation of the medieval royal palace of Visegrád, the rehabilitation of the ruins of the medieval provostal church in Székesfehérvár, and the renovation of the medieval royal palace of Esztergom. The reconstructions of two of them could have been fulfilled, using the modernist style of the Italian restaurations. Until these works, the reconstructions happened only with additions in historicistic styles. The study examines the transformation as a phenomenon which did not happen so sharply. During the planning processes, the attitude of historicistic way of seeing can be also observed in the architectural renovation practices.