Theater of dreams

Gödöllô's beautiful Baroque theater has been restored to its former glory. Lucy Mallows reports.


TAKE a 40-minute bone-rattling ride on the Hév, (suburban railway line) heading north east out of Budapest and you come to an enchanted castle steeped in the atmosphere of the Habsburg dynasty, with its masked balls, secret passages and illicit liaisons in the orange groves.


The history of the Grassalkovich Palace reads like a history of Hungary: built, expanded, looted, recovered, plundered again, occupied by the Soviet Army and now regenerated and turned into a museum and entertainment center.


The latest stage in the restoration of one of Hungary's most beautiful palaces will be complete in August when the renovated Baroque theater throws opens its doors to an eager public.


Renovation work took one year at a cost of Ft1.3 billion ($5.6 million), but the dedicated team behind the project feel that it was money well spent. Dr László Körösvölgyi, managing director of Gödöllô Királyi Kastély Kht (Gödöllô Royal Palace Kht) said that the official opening of the theater would be celebrated with the events of the Barokk Kastélynapok (Baroque Palace Days Festival).


Antal Grassalkovich, a successful lawyer of the time, commissioned the construction of the 136-room palace at Gödöllô in 1741. It was designed by Antal Mayerhoffer in a style which became known as "Gödöllô Baroque". It is the largest baroque residence in Hungary and, allegedly, the second largest in Europe after Versailles. The building is perfectly symmetrical in a double U- shape with two cupola domes.


When Empress Maria Theresa came to stay in August 1751, folklore has it that she wanted to indulge in her favorite pastime of sledding.


Undaunted by the summer heat, the servants put one year's production from the Felvidék salt mine on the road and everyone sweltered in fur coats to create the right effect for the spoiled empress.


Other local rumors hinting that four secret tunnels led from the palace to the town were recently discovered to be true, although they are now filled in.


Nobody knows when or why the tunnels, which could accommodate a coach and horses, were built. It is possible they were dug by the Habsburgs, who fled Vienna during the Napoleonic War, using Grassalkovich as a headquarters on their way to northern Hungary.


When the Austro-Hungarian Compromise was struck in 1867, the Hungarian state bought the castle and converted it into a residence for Franz József, the Habsburg monarch and reigning Hungarian king.


The Viennese court architect Ferdinand Kirschner converted a suite of rooms for Queen Erzsébet, affectionately known as Sissi. She also had a covered wooden verandah leading to the indoor riding school so that she could indulge in her favorite hobby in bad weather.


Grassalkovich was Sissi's favorite palace, especially when her husband Franz József, whom she apparently loathed, was not around. She preferred to spend time with the dashing young Count Andrássy, who was reputedly her lover. More gossip says that she was anorexic and lived on one biscuit a day and that she had a secret spiral staircase to escape from protocol events she hated.


In the suites for the royal children, Maria Valeria, Gisella and Rudolph, in the third wing of the palace, huge stoves are still prominent in every room. The walls are so wide that little corridors run along inside them. Servants would scuttle along, stoking each stove without disturbing the royal family.


Following the end of the Habsburg Empire in 1918, the mansion and estate passed into the hands of the Finance Ministry. When the Romanians invaded to remove the short-lived Communist regime in 1919, they allegedly also removed many of Grassalkovich Palace's works of art.


Between the wars, Hungary's leader Admiral Miklós Horthy used Grassalkovich as a summer house. The end of the Second World War saw Grassalkovich enter its worst period of neglect. The Soviet Army moved in to launch their offensive to drive the Germans from Budapest in 1944 and stayed for another 45 years. The effect of their presence could be felt in the stables, which they used as a petrol store. Everything was painted a dull grey and the soldiers stenciled "no smoking" messages in Cyrillic letters all over cast iron columns made in Vienna and the 38 red marble arches and watering troughs.


The boards of the theater founded by Antal Grassalkovich II have not been trodden on for more than two centuries. The 24-member princely orchestra put down their bows and clarinets and the music fell silent.


Unfortunately, many documents stored in the National Archives, concerning the last days of the theater, were destroyed during the Second World War. However, a fragment of a letter, dated 1792, from Philipp Berndt, a theater director to the magistrate at Gyôr, mentioned that his company was to travel to Gödöllô for a residency of one to two months.


Despite the lack of documents, on walking around the sumptuously renovated palace and theater it is easy to imagine what a colorful part it played in the lives of 18th century noblemen and women.


A book on the Gödöllô Palace Theater by Johann Lehmans tells how the German theatrical director Christoph Seipp wrote that the Buda and Pest theatrical companies played the summer season at Gödöllô and the Prince - obviously - footed the bill. Music was provided by the 24-member orchestra and provided the roots for what was to become today's Gödöllô Symphony Orchestra.


In 1786, Korabinszky wrote that many actors from Pest had performed at Gödöllô during the season and the palace had become a significant cultural center and a favorite meeting place for nobility.


Details surrounding the decline of the theater are a little sketchy, but it appears that after Antal Grasssalkovich III went bankrupt, the beautiful theater fell into disrepair. In 1867, the Vasárnapi Újság noted that the depressing atmosphere pervading the theater was symptomatic of a place of entertainment that had been devoid of life and spirit for 50 years.


After the Compromise ( Kiegyezés) of 1867, the building was reconstructed into 15 private rooms, as the Emperor and his royal court were occupied with attending the many theaters by now operating in Pest-Buda.


In 1987, the theater was still part of the Soviet Army barracks. It had suffered for more than 100 years and had been divided up into three floors linked by a temporary iron staircase Renovation of the Baroque Theater was an exciting challenge for the experts at Architekton Construction and Monument Restoration Rt.


Dr Zsolt Máté, architect and designer of the new theater, used all his professional expertise to create an authentic restoration, conserving the historic atmosphere while meeting the needs of a 21st century public.


Modern technology required for sophisticated productions has been installed without destroying the illusion of such a historic surroundings. To create more space, some of the functional aspects of the theater have been moved underground. The dressing rooms, bathrooms, stage scenery and equipment stores, as well as the engine rooms, have all found a home beneath the stage.


The theater will operate under the auspices of the Hungarian State Opera House and will surely become a major destination in Europe for lovers of theater, opera and history.




07.08.2003