The Cselley-House

In the former main street of the old town Magyaróvár of baroque atmosphere stands the oldest building of the town, the Cselley House. Its wooden balconies with iron bars, its windows with richly carved stone frameworks refer – also with regard to its outside – to an extremely important building.

Already at the end of the 13th century buildings were built there in the place of the building of today, later on the tower-like building with the square ground-plan (built in the 14th century) was built together with the neighbouring house in the 15th century and its gate received a vault. This part as well as the barrel vaulted cellar underneath remained, there have been only small changes done. The room in the upper floor was once divided into two parts by a separating-wall. The rooms were also separately accessible by a wooden entrance built at the southern side wall. The upstairs part of the road wing was built in the period of King Matthias around 1470. At this time the large hall, that still exists, was equipped with two oriel-windows and with stone framed windows that also look out on the inner courtyard. Around 1730 the building was reconstructed into baroque style. The facade was transformed, the oriel-windows were walled up, the rooms obtained vaulting and were decorated with stucco-work. Finally, around 1885 at the request of János Cselley the building was reconstructed in eclectic style. With the reconstruction experts set themselves the goal to restore the palace of the 15th century as far as possible.The exhibitions in the museum were opened in 1983.

In the white washed hall, faces of two-thousand-year old dead people – graved into stones – look at us. The gravestones from the 1st century were excavated by dr. Ágost Sőtér, the first director of the museum of Magyaróvár, in the plough-land of Bruckneudorf (Királyhida) and Neusiedl (Nezsider), the communities which belonged at that time to Moson County.

The dimensions of the large halls in the Cselley house were suitable for the abundantly decorated furniture of the 17th and 18th century. The canopy bed, which can be seen beside the wall facing the entrance, with twisted columns and covered with a Karaman woven carpet, was manufactured to the order of an Upper Hungarian aristocrat family. Also the late renaissance hope chest as well as the South German small box originate from Upper Hungary. In the small re-entering corner of the hall there is a baroque wooden door from the 18th century that leads to the backyard. The portrait of Maria Theresa with ivory inlays can be found in a frame which is decorated abundantly with frieze group and intarsia (inlays). The dining table with its Italian legs from the 17th century in the middle of the room, as well as the baroque tub-chairs give an intimate atmosphere to the hall. The oil paintings with religious topics are works of Austrian masters. In the following smaller room you can see chests of drawers of different style schools from the 18th century. The standing clock in the corner, which is a Viennese product from the time of Maria Theresa, the contemporary pastel portrait of Marie Antoinette, as well as a mirror with gilded framework, which used to decorate the flat of a high aristocrat, deserve attention. In the last large room you can see some pieces of furniture from the first third of the 19th century. The furniture of Empire style and that of the early Biedermeier style was manufactured in Vienna or Pressburg, some pieces of them, however, in Mosonmagyaróvár. Beside the Biedermeier portraits hanging on the wall, also some beautiful romantic oil paintings that were painted by the landscape painter of Magyaróvár János Szále in the 1840s have found a place here.

The painting and porcelain collection of dr. Tibor Gyurkovich and his wife dr. Irén Mika is one of the most outstanding Hungarian collections. Its arrangements were the result of a conscious and well-thought-out collecting work. In the beginning works from the 19th century, mainly from the years between 1830 to 1840, were displayed in the collection, later on, however, the stock of the collection was completed with works by renowned painters of the second half of the 19th century and that of the first third of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, no one could talk about Hungarian painting. In the hope of prosperity and a better education the talented young adults ? who were born here ? had left for Vienna, Rome and London to studying and working. The first more important artist was the great pioneer of the national painting, Miklós Barabás (1810-1898). From the four water colors of this artist – that can be seen in this collection – the ?Portrait of Mrs. G. Emich? is especially remarkable. Apart from Barabás there was another excellent painter of this era, his name was József Borsos (1821-1883). His work ?Portrait of a young girl? is a work of art, in which he presented the classic beauty ideal. Beside the portrait painting the artists of this time preferred as popular topics the mostly idealized landscapes, which they painted on the basis of sketches or by heart. For example: József Molnár (1821-1899): Vierti at Naples – or other scenes inspired by ancient mythology and by the Bible – Heinrich Weber (1818-1866): Rebecca at the fountain. After the revolution of 1848 the romantic painting, whose largest Hungarian representative was Mihály Zichy (1827-1906), kept on flourishing and living. Six works of this excellent illustrator – partly water colors, partly color chalk drawings ? can be seen here. Two sensually fine mythological scenes (Amor and Psyché, The sleeping bacchantin) praise the fresco painter Károly Lotz (1883-1904) for his talent. In the 1860s history painting obtained an important role in Hungarian painting. Its celebrated Hungarian representative was Bertalan Székely (1835-1910). Seven from the works of Bertalan Székely are in the possession of the Gyurkovich collection, and his painting ?Mihály Dobozi and his wife? can be highlighted because of its dramatic power of expression. The first Hungarian painter, whose fame exceeded the border of Hungary and spread all over the world was Mihály Munkácsy (1844-1900). His painting ?Woman in interior? is one of the most beautiful works of the collection. The painting of warm colors depicts a woman in a room interior wearing a long white dress sitting at a table and turning over the pages of a book. The works of art in connection with the artist colony of Nagybánya constitute a precious part of the collection. The artists of Nagybánya basically reformed the Hungarian art of the turn of the century. A determining personality of this circle was Károly Ferenczy (1862-1917). The great master of the Hungarian Postimpressionism, József Rippl-Rónay (1861-1927), is represented in the collection by his two pastel portraits and by one of his most beautiful compositions, the painting ?Spring at the sea-side?. This series of paintings were accomplished by different trends of our painters between the two world wars – among others – by the works of József Egry (1883-1951), painter of ?Lake Balaton and the light?, furthermore by those of Vilmos Aba Novák (1894-1940), who immortalized the colourful world of the circus, as well as by the paintings by Endre Domanovszky (1907-1976).

The other part of the Gyurkovich collection consists of porcelain objects. These objects coming from the factories of Meissen, Berlin, Copenhagen, Herend etc. include animal figures, table dishes and drinking sets, urns, porcelain statuettes that arouse the visitors? interest by their special intimacy and fulfil them with admiration.