Location: Székesfehérvár, Central Transdanubia Map
Constructed: 20th century by Jenő Bory
Bory Castle is situated in Székesfehérvár, regional capital of Central Transdanubia in Hungary. Despite its medieval look and a name the structure of Bory Castle is actually a creation of the 20th century. Bory Castle was build in 1923- 59 by Jenő Bory, famous Hungarian architect and sculptor, with the help of his students. It is one of the few self made residences was designed by Jeno for his wife. Sculptures that line up the interior garden are creation of his hands. Many of the paintings that hang inside Bory Castle were made by his sculptor's wife.
Its location
The Bory Castle is located in
Székesfehérvár, in the north-western part of the Öreghegy district,
within the Mária Valley (also called the inner part of Öreghegy), at
the intersection of Máriavölgy Street and Vágújhelyi Street, at 54
Máriavölgy Street. The expansion in front of the castle is called
Bory Square.
History
In 1912, Jenő Bory bought a plot of
land in the Mária Valley belonging to Székesfehérvár for a weekend
plot, where initially only a wine cellar stood between fruit trees
and vineyards, with a press house (Mária Valley was still a large
outskirts, He expanded the press house into an apartment that year
and set up a studio above it. He did not start building the castle
until after the First World War, when he was able to spend on it
from the royalties of his growing sculptural orders. At first, only
the locals knew about the construction, then in 1934 it opened its
doors to visitors, and then it became nationally known. Initially,
the owner himself led the tour around, telling about the creation of
the castle and the history of the construction of each section.
He continued the construction, the constant chiselling of the
details, and the restoration work after the Second World War until
his death. Mostly he worked alone, relying on his two hands, using
up to a few occasional help. He was a trained architect, yet he was
guided in his work not by specific engineering drawings, but rather
by his imagination and adaptation to the given terrain. The slowly
growing walls, the shapes of the towers, the spaces they embrace
were the result of the same artistic vision as the sculptures, so
Bory Castle is nothing more than a sculptural work of art taking on
forms and dimensions.
Jenő Bory was also the
designer-architect, construction manager, paller and bricklayer,
who, according to tradition, continuously expanded and beautified
the castle with helpers for 40 summers. In reality, however, he
could only work on it from 1923 until his death in 1959, but
post-production lasted until 1964, so the construction of Bory
Castle took about 41 years. Jenő Bory was buried in the studio after
his death.
Description
The castle is more than 30 meters
high from its dungeon to the top of the tallest towers. Seven
towers, thirty smaller and larger rooms, including three studios,
sculptures, pictures, antiques, artefacts everywhere. It is
interesting that the raw material of the castle is concrete, which
Jenő Bory was a pioneer in the application of. Domes, columns,
railings, stairs, door and window frames, pools, fountains, but also
sculptures and reliefs were made of this material.
Lower
garden
As the visitor approaches the castle in the Maria Valley,
he sees his high-rise, romantic towers from afar. Entering the
garden through the lattice gate, we first meet the model of the
castle. It’s worth taking a while here before you start the walk -
but let’s add it right away: afterwards too - because in fact we can
never see it all in reality in such a clear way. The structure and
structure of the castle, the adaptation of the building complex to
the terrain gradually rising backwards on the hillside, can only be
seen here. The relationship of the terraces, towers, passages to
each other and to the whole, ie the composition and structure of
this monumental work, can be understood here.
In the
foreground of the castle we can see sculptures everywhere, among
lush deciduous trees, flowering groups, greens, mostly
weather-resistant, and therefore weather-resistant figures cast in
quartz concrete, favored by Jenő Bory. On the right hand, a
monumental-sized Christ's head, a duplicate of the Bory family's
tomb, appears among the many, and a life-size bronze figure of the
rising sunbeam (circa 1923), a life-size young woman standing up
from the ground, is a little closer to us. . To the left is a
similar picture of the garden. Here, a fountain with a white
porcelain mosaic-covered pool and a column several meters high
holding a vase in the middle stand out from the view. The fountain
is one of the oldest relics associated with the castle: it was built
by the artist in 1913 on its present site.
By the way, the
garden - it can be felt and enjoyed along the way - almost lives
with the whole structure of the castle, not only surrounds it all,
but also flows into it here and there. On the terraces and in the
courtyards, trees, bushes, green islands, wells and ponds bring the
sight to life.
The rose garden and the artist gallery
A wide flight of stairs leads from the garden
through the terraces to the main building of the castle.
On
the lower terrace to the right we see original turbaned tombstones
from the time of the Turkish occupation. To the left, Jenő Bory
marked the grave of a Soviet soldier who fell here in the 1945
battles with a strange stone cross composed of a five-pointed star.
Inside the terrace, at the rest on the right, we can admire Jenő
Bory's portrait of his brilliantly beautiful young wife, on a
free-standing, concrete wall reminiscent of the stele of ancient
classical eras. Below the statue, in letters engraved on the wall,
we can read the poems of the master written to him.
At the
back, under the retaining wall of the second terrace, in a kind of
pantheon - in the center with a full-length statue of Mihály
Munkácsy (identical to his plan for the 1921 monument competition) -
mostly to his contemporaries, artist friends, including painters:
Gyula Benczúr, Róbert ; To architects Gyula Hüttl and Gyula Wälder;
he lined up a portrait of the queen, Blaha Lujza. In this “pantheon”
he placed some portraits made by his master, Alajos Strobl
(1856–1926), such as the architect of the Fisherman's Bastion,
Frigyes Schulek, and two famous Hungarian painters of the 19th
century, Károly Lotz and Bertalan Székely. Károly Damkó (1872–1955)
made a portrait of Alajos Strobl, which can also be seen here, while
Miklós Ligeti (1871–1944) made a bust of Pál Szinyei Merse.
In front of the pantheon, on the cute mosaic-covered pediment, we
read a short, declarative sentence: “The stones speak”. A short but
serious sentence: it includes the whole ars poetica of the castle
builder. In addition, the content of the sentence sheds light on
Bory's respect for the past, his whole outlook on life, his
adherence to enduring, agreed-upon values, and his artistic demands,
which decisively determined his long career.
The center of
the free space of the terrace is occupied by a large garden table
made of artificial stone decorated with white and green mosaic
inserts, which makes the environment homely friendly, without, of
course, damaging the seriousness of the architectural and artistic
background as a whole.
Elephant yard
The second terrace
got its name from an elephant standing on its sphere under its
arcades, holding the castle on its back. The elephant can be seen as
a small sculpture in the museum apartment. With this work, Jenő Bory
won the Izidor Halmos Small Sculpture Award in 1926.
On the
parapet stands a concrete statue of Leader Lehel and Suleiman the
Great. On the back wall of the arcades, the master drew four murals
with red chalk. They symbolize four epochs that are architecturally
defining in the history of mankind: the Greco-Roman era,
Christianity, loyalty, and the age of socialism.
Above the
courtyard is an arcaded balcony, behind which is the studio of the
former owner of the castle.
Hundred-column courtyard
The
great corridors of Hungarian history, heroes, singers and kings,
from leader Álmos to Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos, line the corridors of
the hundred-column courtyard of the castle. The plaster sculptures,
original bronze and marble versions seen under the arcades can still
be found in various settlements in Hungary. In the chapel there is a
statue of conjugal love.
Between the two large towers, on the
castle gate, above the huge, rusty (but of course, like almost
everything in the castle, it is also made of concrete) hanging
menacingly hanging above it, threatening the castle lord, we enter
the picturesque space of the courtyard. It is greeted by an elegant,
French-flavored park with carefully pruned plants and a well with a
frog spitting water in the middle. This is the place where the
“wanderer” - the visitor - can rest tired, and then walk with
renewed vigor along the sculptural castle wall bordering the garden
on three sides and the arcaded corridor below, the 103 pillars of
which are named after the courtyard.
The other entrance to
the courtyard is under the residential tower. The residential tower
symbolizes the family of Jenő Bory. The smallest dome is for the
smallest child, George, the two identical concrete domes are one
level higher for the twin girls, Ilona and Klara, and the
two-pointed roof for the couple themselves. The rooster is the
woman, “because ladies always turn where the wind blows,” Bory said.
Peaceful tower
Leaving the studio, you can reach the tall
towers guarding the castle gate, either to the left - through the
passage under the main building or the residential tower and the
hundred-column courtyard - or by turning right - passing back
through the Elephant courtyard. It’s worth taking the effort to
climb both. Not only do you have a magnificent view of the city and
its surroundings from the top, but you can also see the castle
itself from here.
At the bottom of the Peak Tower is the “guard
room”, where a Bened Jenő Ecce homo (Bory Jenő Ecce homo ( 1922).
The life-size, tormented Christ, in a rather unusual way in the work
of our master, sits before us completely shattered by hard,
piecemeal forms. Shattered, and yet, with some incredibly powerful,
unshakable serenity, a concentrated inward attention forgetting the
evil vulgarity of the earthly world. With this work, Bory did not
accidentally win the Rökk Szilárd Prize, which was a serious
professional recognition in 1922, on the occasion of the exhibition
held in the Műcsarnok.
Going up the tower, the first level
window reads a date of 1905, then two floors up a 1907. The first is
the date the artist couple met, and the second is the date they
married two years later. From the first level you can access the
historic arcade, on the second level a balcony, while on the fourth
level the tower itself, from where you can see not only the city in
clear weather, but also the Vértes and Bakony ranges can be well
identified.
Flag tower
The staircase of the Flag Tower
is one of the real, great architectural attractions of Bory Castle.
Standing under the stairs and looking up from there, the lace-like
piercing of the stair railing, painted in fresh, pastel colors,
ascending to the top of the tower, or looking back from the height
of the tower, is a truly aesthetic experience. The staircase made of
concrete with sculptural spatial vision would certainly provide a
rewarding experience for the visitor entering it, but the decorative
painting of Klara Bory (1910–1989), who studied painting, completed
around 1932, enriched the sight with real magic.
From the
upstairs rest of this tower opens the so-called “Vagyóczky Room”,
which is named after Jenő Bory, a colleague who selflessly
contributes to the work in college and in the summer. Exhibited here
is Jenő Bory's horse head, formally familiar from the Parthenon
frieze of Athens (circa 1928), which, however, lends a very special
character - and therefore a special effect - to the special, colored
material of the marble chosen by the sculptor. The room also hosts
temporary exhibitions in the castle.
Historic arcade line
Above the arcades - on the castle walls - the artist created a wide
promenade accompanied by statues of historical figures. The statues
in pairs, like the walls of the castle, were made of quartz
concrete. The true beauty of this material unit, so characteristic,
can be experienced here in its entirety, as the statues rising on
the pillars of the railing begin to behave as part of the
architectural framework, as part of the castle.
Inscriptions
placed on the pedestals in the gallery of historical figures help
you to find your way. Starting from the Peak Tower, on the left wing
from Leader Álmos III. To the end, our journey leads between the
ranks of the kings of the Árpád dynasty. In the middle wing, the
historian Anonymus and the rulers of Anjou look at us. On the other
side are the kings of the mixed house - like Matthias I, II. In
addition to Lajos, Ferdinand I, János Szapolyai, there are
historical and literary heroes such as Zrínyi, two little ones of
György Szondi, Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos, György Fráter and Queen
Izabella Jagelló.
Chapel of conjugal love
Below, in the
center of the middle wing of the arcade row, is a “castle chapel,”
or chapel of conjugal love, as a kind of deliberate symbol, about
the final destination of a castle visit. In this frescoed ornate
apse, Bory placed a whole-shaped, statue of the wife of conjugal
love. In front of the peculiar “sanctuary”, giving some new emphasis
to his meaning, he placed the symmetrically doubled composition of
Kiss (1908) next to the wall on both sides.
The yellow ladies
in the fresco above the statue of conjugal love are the muses of
other famous artists (including Mona Lisa) who are yellow with envy
because they don’t love them as much as Jenő Bory’s wife.
The
bell tower
In the orbit under the arcade, as if in a museum
study warehouse, the master collected the original plaster samples
of his public and church sculptures erected all over his country.
Here, the visitor should not expect - as elsewhere in the castle -
some kind of aesthetic order. Let’s look at it all like when we
actually step into a sculpture studio, where the old and new works
of the artist are in order in a strange, hard-to-see cavalcade all
over the shelves and racks. This is an unmissable part of a castle
visit. Let us not regret the time, so that we can marvel again and
again at the public or church sculpture of Jenő Bory, this
incredibly prolific master, who has been seen somewhere before - in
Szeged, Kaposvár, Budapest or elsewhere - about whom we may not have
known before.
The statue of the birth of the hussar can be
found on the beach in Székesfehérvár and in front of the obstetrics
of St. John's Hospital in Buda. The hussar does not come into the
world in the stork's beak, but is already "storking", that is,
riding on the stork's back.
Plaster samples of the four
bishops of the Bishop's Well in Székesfehérvár can also be found
under the arcades. Püspökkút is currently located in the Castle Wall
Park in Piac tér, but it was originally located in Városház tér, on
the site of today's Országalma monument. It then moved to Peace
Square, in front of the railway station, and has been in its current
location since 1972.
Gallery
Jenő Bory built his spacious
studio and the smaller service rooms in the main building of the
castle, above the Elephant Yard, on the first floor. By now, of
course, this whole thing - although it retains its original
character - is primarily a museum, where in addition to the works of
the master, we can also find the works of not a friend, well-known
contemporary artists.
Room with fireplace
Through the
narrow entrance, the visitor first enters a magnificent, columned
foreground. Around the walls, we see pictures everywhere in several
rows, including Dezső Rakssányi's The Outbreak of Varkocs. The topic
is one of the sad events in the history of Székesfehérvár. In 1543,
Sultan Suleiman arrived with a huge army to occupy one of the most
important cities in medieval Hungary, the crowning and burial place
of our kings. Captain György Varkocs rushed at the head of his
cavalry team to disrupt the enemy's march with his sudden attack.
However, as he wanted to return to the strong walls of the city, the
citizens closed its gates and watched idly as the fearsome
superiority crushed and slaughtered the heroes trapped outside.
Cowardly and foolishly, they hoped that if the city was handed over
to the Turks voluntarily, without resistance, it would spare their
lives and property. The reward of betrayal eventually became, as we
know from history, the deservedly bitter disappointment.
The
two-figure, pyrobasalt composition, Wrestlers (1922), which stands
in front of the window, attracts attention with its powerful, lively
sculpture and the tense temperament of the struggling figures,
reflected in their gestures but also in their facial expressions.
This kind of plastic depiction of unbridled temperament, most
reminiscent of Art Nouveau masters, is quite rare in Jenő Bory's
art. In shaping his sculptures, he sought at other times and mostly
to create a classical balance of calm and movement.
We must
also talk about the Wrestlers' material, the cheap pyrobasalt, about
its burnt tile, which is almost deceptively similar in its effect
and appearance to the bronze, which is often difficult to obtain
after the war, with its external, metallic shine (but also its
weight). Jenő Bory had practically his own discovery that he made
this material suitable for making sculptures, and he used his
invention regularly from the beginning of the twenties. “… How fully
it serves the sculptural work,” the master himself wrote,
“pyrobasal, this refined black tile, which we fondly call Bory
bronze. On top of all that, how fantastic are the opportunities to
use the coloring of fired clay! ” “And indeed, it is enough to look
at the black-burned Kossuth head (1922) or the Self-Portrait (1921)
with a completely different effect exhibited in the same room to see
what has been described.
In the room with a fireplace we also
meet one of Jenő Bory's most common and visibly lovely models: his
wife's bustle of white marble, carved with sensitivity, attention
and superior confidence, was made in 1927. In its neighborhood we
also see another marble portrait of Genoveva (Savanyú Katica, 1922),
formed with eloquent, soul-seeing authenticity.
And why is a room with a fireplace the name of the
room? It got its name from the beautiful Bory fireplace, which is
known to have been designed by Jenő Bory and cast his metal parts in
the workshop of his brother Pál Bory. The training of the smoke
passages allowed for very efficient heating, it was also possible to
cook in the middle part and to warm up on the double-sided seats.
There are two such fireplaces in the castle, in the gallery and in
the dining room of the museum apartment.
Radio room
To the
left of the “room with a fireplace” we enter a smaller one called
the “radio room”. Opposite is Shameful (1923), a life-size marble
nude that shamefully turns its face away from the viewer - in front
of the sculptor watching the model - and covers it with both hands.
On the other side, on a table, we meet again a pirobasal bust, a
black-burned portrait of Emperor Nero (1924), famous for his cruel
persecutions of Christians. Bory did not articulate the madness of
public belief. From the fleshy, already baggy, delightful face, a
pair of eyes are very determined, satisfied with themselves and
their power - which is clearly indicated by the laurel wreath
adorning the bald head. According to family legend, he actually
shaped a brick factory very reminiscent of Nero.
In front of
the back wall of the room, you can see a whole series of small
sculptures on an eclectic sideboard decorated with columns. Already
getting out of the room, it is worth stopping at the door a bit
again. On the wall we see such masterpieces of the Bory collection
together as István Csók's painting (1865–1961) entitled Balaton
Miksa is a composition that captures the legendary Sicilian city of
Taormina. Here we see the picture of Dezső Rakssányi, which depicts
Jenő Bory's studio in its original function.
Next to the door
are pictures of Mrs. Boryné painted on their twin daughters. A
full-length picture of Ilona Bory in a yellow ball gown, next to her
is a portrait of her twin sister, Klára.
Studio
Passing through the foyer, we get to the actual studio. Entering
through the door, under the coffered ceiling, the spacious, serious
interior height, imposing space truly worthy of a "knight's hall" is
revealed to us at once. Today, of course, no more sculptures are
made here, yet what we see is not only the exhibition place of the
pictures hanging on the walls and the sculptures on their pedestals,
as here the place itself is a memory, if you like: its own museum.
Undoubtedly the most striking element of the spectacle is the
Wounded Hero (1927), the original plaster model of the statue made
in memory of the heroic dead of the First World War at the Technical
University. The huge figure was cast in bronze again in 2000, thus
replacing the original monument, which was removed from its place in
1949 and later used for the material of the Stalin statue.
Near the massive plaster cast stands the master’s former,
prestigious, richly carved, eclectic-style desk and associated
armchair. To the right of the large hall, behind the desk, in glazed
table shelves, the curious visitor can study old photographs and
documents, interesting family and official documents.
Almost
all the free surfaces of the walls of the room are covered with
pictures, and there is not one that can only be found on an easel.
Here we can see the portrait of Bertna Székely (1835–1910), a highly
successful historical painter, Boryne, a student of the School of
Design and later one of the founders of the College of Fine Arts.
Next to it is a portrait of the model, the young painter Ilona
Komócsin (1885–1974), depicting her master, Bertalan Székely. We can
discover several works in the collection of Bertalan Karlovszky, one
of the busiest portrait painters of the period, working in an
academic style. Following the style of painting in Nagybánya, the
visitor can admire Ágost Benkhard's life painting entitled
Landscaping. The work of Dezső Rakssányi, the wedding of Péter Bory
in 1476, also hangs on the wall in this room.
And of course,
the sculptures. Most of these are also standing on pedestals near
the walls, but if we look up, we can see two sides, on the ledges of
the tall studio windows, a whole series of plaster sculptures.
In the hall, opposite the Wounded Hero, stands the
plaster of the symbolic figure of Architecture (1914), with a
hammock raised high on the right and a model of the Church of the
Heart of Jesus in Fehérvár on its left. Not far from him is the nude
erected in aluminum in Agárd in 1960, which boldly reveals his
nakedness, the life-size plaster of The Fairy of the Lake, and a
version of the composition of the early Kiss (1908). In this line we
see the black-burned pyrobasalt version of the nude kneeling in a
very expressive way (1929) (with which he won a silver medal at the
Barcelona World's Fair in 1929), and Petőfi (1921), also made of
this material but with a light color. and Rembrandt (1921)
portraits. In the corner, above the portrait of Jenő Bory depicting
his Mother, on the wall, there is a plaster cast from the hands of
Bishop Ottokár Prohászka.
Almost in the middle of the room
stands one of the most beautiful masterpieces of Master Bory's art,
conceived in style in the decade of 19th century historicism, but
nevertheless (or because of it) a very authentic bronze figure of
John the Baptist (circa 1920). The original of this statue stands on
the baptismal font of St. Nicholas Church in Muraszombat.
It
is a good idea to step out of the studio into the arcaded balcony in
front of it, which offers great views of the garden and terraces.
Yellow room
From the big room on our way back, we get to
the so-called “yellow room”. In front of the window, on a low
pedestal, is the nude Zsuzsanna in the Bath (1922), which is
crouched on the ground and covered with a richly pleated blanket,
covered with a delicate elegance, made of black-burned pyrobasalt. A
colorful, glazed version of pirobasalt became the material of a
strikingly lively, serene portrait of his painter-friendly wife,
Róbertné Nádler (1926).
There, on an old piano, you can also
see Ottokár Prohászka, the bishop of Székesfehérvár who died in
1927, a death mask made of white plaster by Jenő Bory.
To the
left of the “yellow room” there is another small room, in which, in
addition to another copy of The Shameful, the portrait of the
painter Ede Balló deserves attention. Balló was a friend and fellow
teacher of Bory, but he certainly also set an example for him with
unconditional respect for the “old ones”. Balló became famous
primarily as an acquaintance of Diego Velázquez and the great
masters of the Netherlands, a copier of their pictures. He enriched
the exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts with his huge collection
of copies.
This back room also shows the family tree of the
Bory family.
Exhibitions
In addition to the statues and
pictures of Jenő Bory and his wife, Ilona Komócsin (Ilona Székely
was a student of Bertalan) and Klára's daughter (student of Oszkár
Glatz), the following works can be found in the castle: Bertalan
Székely, Bertalan Karlovszky, Aladár Körösfői-Kriesch , István Csók,
Fülöp László, Lajos Márk, István Bosznay, Péter Szüle, Ferenc
Márton, Béla Iványi-Grünwald, Jenő Haranghy, János Fadrusz, György
Zala, Alajos Strobl, Miklós Ligeti, János Dankó. The “abstract”
index of Bory Castle lists nearly 400 works, but there are actually
thousands there.
Transport
By car
The castle can be
easily reached by car, primarily on the most important old mountain
roads, from Béla utca, Pozsonyi út, Kassai utca and / or Fiskális út
to Vágújhelyi and / or Bicskei utca, then turning onto Máriavölgy.
By public transport
Bory Castle is also easily accessible by
local public transport. The nearest bus stop, at the intersection of
Kassai utca and Vágújhelyi utca, is located at Vágújhelyi u. stop
called three minutes walk from the castle. Here from the train
station Kassai u. - 32 to Nagyszombati Street and Kassai u. From
Jancsár Street via the bus station. - 26A bus services to
Nagyszombati Street stop. In addition, bus 31 from the train station
to Béla utca and bus 26 from Jancsár utca through the bus station to
Béla utca are close by. Bicskei u. It also stops at the intersection
of Béla Street and Bicskei Street. The castle is a 10-minute walk
away.
The nearest bus stop, where long-distance services also
stop (mainly to and from Pátka, Lovasberény and Bicske), is at
Szeredi u. stop at the intersection of Béla Street and Szeredi
Street, which is a 15-minute walk from the castle.