Liszt Academy Wins Europa Nostra Award
Among the 28 prize winners honored for outstanding achievements in four categories, the reconstruction of the main building of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest has been awarded in the conservation of cultural heritage category. “The Jury regarded this project as an outstanding example of best practice in restoration,” the Europa Nostra Committee’s website reads. According to the evaluation, the renovation of the Liszt Academy on Liszt Ferenc Square was a far from simple matter: the building itself is a special example of the elaborate European style of Art Nouveau, and combines aesthetic splendor with innovative functional design. But the standards required for international music performance today are incomparably higher than those of 1904, and the new technology required to achieve them had to be accommodated within a precious period setting. The result has been considered remarkable by the specialist jury.
Photo: Europa Nostra / Rudolf Klein
The renovation of the Liszt Academy began on 26 August 2011, to the plans of architects Éva Magyari, Béla Pazár and Ferenc Potzner among others, with the aim of not only restoring the architectural monument to its original splendor based on the contemporary plans, descriptions and photographs but also to enable high-standard musical education and concert life within its walls. Renewed from the basement to the loft, the building provides accessibility for people with disabilities, and its interior space has been expanded by 3,000 m² through the complete conversion of the basement level and the attic and the covering of the courtyard. The cloakroom on the first floor has been removed, and new restrooms as well as new dressing rooms and tuning rooms for larger orchestras and choirs have been established. Paying special attention to infrastructural development, the restorers introduced the most advanced stage machinery and climate-controlled instrument storages. The Chamber Hall, also called the “Art Nouveau miracle”, has regained its orchestral pit and flies and now functions as a chamber opera venue. The renewed building was opened on 22 October 2013.
The Europa Nostra Prize has been awarded for the protection and reconstruction of cultural heritage, research and digitalization schemes concerning cultural heritage, exemplary and committed service to cultural heritage and raising levels of education, training and awareness in the area. The European Heritage Awards Ceremony will take place in Oslo on 11 June 2015, and will be co-hosted by Fabian Stang, the Mayor of Oslo, Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and Plácido Domingo, the renowned opera singer and Europa Nostra President. At the ceremony, seven of the selected winners will be named as Grand Prix laureates, receiving €10,000 each, and one will receive the Public Choice Award, chosen in an online poll conducted by Europa Nostra.