Opening: August 17, 2007


Called “probably the most supple and serene of the more than 20 Ede Magyar buildings still standing”, the recently restored Reok Palace will serve as an arts center for the entire southeast region of Hungary.


The Reok Palace



The New York Times columnist, Alexandra Shelley dedicated a whole paragraph to Ede Magyar, the young architect who designed Szeged’s Reok Mansion and several other buildings in town:


His bravado continues to enliven the town: It's in the half-naked tin women clinging with stiff arms to the cupola of the Ungar-Mayer House on Dugonics Square; in the alabaster girls – modeled after famous ballerinas – offering flowers to anyone entering the Goldschmidt Palace; in the unevenly crenelated roof line, the undulating balconies, the pale purple and pastel-green waterlilies melting into the ivory facade of the Reok Mansion. Its corner curved like a ship's prow, the mansion breasts into a small square.


The newly restored, fresh, clean building that reminds some of an artfully decorated wedding cake makes us feel as if Shelley’s above description wasn’t from 11 years ago, but from just yesterday. Although not open yet, the citizens of Szeged often stop by the Reok Palace to revel in the harmony of its colors, and to marvel on the beauty of its wrought iron balustrades made by Pal Fekete, according to the drawings of Ede Magyar.





The Regional Arts Center


The Reok Palace Art Center will open its doors on August 17, 2007, with an exhibition of works by Goya, entitled “Beauty and Pain”. It will present the artist's Capriccio series, some 80 paintings and etchings. A series of graphic works by William Blake and ten paintings by the Hungarian artist Bela Kondor will also be on display, as well as paintings, sculptures, and other media by more than 30 local artists.


Although visual art exhibitions will be the core activity of the center, it will also offer musical, literary and theatrical events, along with a literary "suite", to be managed by the writer Szilard Podmaniczky, and an opera suite, which will be overseen by the conductors Tamas Pal and Gergely Kesselyak. The center will host chamber theatre productions, as well as talks in cooperation with the University of Szeged.


Visitors are invited to view the Goya exhibit between August 17 and October 20, 2007, and the works of the Szeged local artists by October 15, 2007.


Address:
Szeged, Hungary
Tisza Lajos krt. 56




Links

The New York Times, “The Art Nouveau Glory of Szeged” (1996)

The City of Szeged Home -- click on the Tourinform button, and then choose from Hungarian, English, or Romanian languages