Catalog Level
Items (Cataloging Focus)

Title Proper/Title Text
Padiglione dell'Ungheria - view from the main entrance

Date of Publication/Creation Date
1911 ca.

Dimensions Description
14x9 cm

Inscription Language
Italian (Language)

Related Built Environment Objects

• Pavilion of Hungary

Descriptive Note Text

This photographic postcards shows the main entrance to the Pavilion of Hungary. The catenary half-dome above the geometric portal was made of brass sheets embossed with wrought iron and carried the motif of the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen. The dome was likely inspired by Béla Lajta’s competition design for the mausoleum for Lajos Kossuth. The documents for this competition describe Lajta’s catenary dome as a characteristic Hungarian form reminiscent of the haystack-shaped oven of vernacular architecture and the round pigsty or silo in the southern region of the Great Hungarian plain. In other descriptions, however, the massive historiated dome, bronze-green in color, was interpreted as evoking the shape of a tent or that of a gigantic leather helmet. The portal was guarded, at each side, by three ceramic eosin-glazed warrior gods leaning on the hilts of large swords more than one and one-half times life size. Created by renowned sculptor Miklós Ligeti, these statues of the ancient Hungarian Gods of War wore golden helmets and emphasized the overall martial message of the Pavilion.

 

Current Repository/Geographic Location
Cristina Della Coletta Private Collection (San Diego, USA)

Current Repository Numbers
CDC-PC-PHUN-0016