project culTOUR

First of all, there is no better time to visit this museum than springtime or summer. The neighborhood and the view from that hill is surely the most beautiful in this time of the year. Although my flatmate and I both have been living here for many years now, we have never been in this side of Buda so it was a real adventure to visit the theater museum.

The museum is in a villa that once belonged to the famous Hungarian theater actress, Gizi Bajor. She was performing in the first half of the 20th century and was considered one of the best of her generation. After her tragic death the villa was soon transformed into a theater museum, displaying her relics, photos and giving place to exhibitions about the history of Hungarian theater, ballet, or the most successful plays.

Almost every room of the two-story villa was turned into exhibitions halls, with the permanent exhibitions on the first floor and the temporary ones on the ground floor. I forgot to count but there were at least 10 big rooms so there is a lot to see for sure. Each hall is themed of course. On the ground floor visitors can see lots of old photos; turn of the century  props used by famous performers on stage; old, handwritten playbooks; or personal letters such as the one written by Gizi Bajor to her mother, telling her about the premiere of her new play. I especially love old, handwritten letters so it was as if I opened a treasure chest.

My only problem with this museum was the lack of translation to foreign visitors.  Although there were several printed versions of the information boards in English, the titles of pictures and most of the text was in Hungarian only. Also, the video and audio files with the contemporaries of Gizi Bajor are also in Hungarian. However, I would still recommend this museum to foreign tourists, simply because the collection displayed is invaluable, the atmosphere is gripping, and honestly, even I, a Hungarian did not know many of the actors or theater directors mentioned. Thankfully, the visuals are the most important part of the exhibitions so if you take a Hungarian friend who might assist you with a little translation, the experience can still be great.

It is not easy to describe the strange, nostalgic atmosphere present in the villa. But my favorite thing about this time travel experience was how differently it made me think about theater. I do love theater but the theater portrayed in this museum was much more special. Everything about the theater of those old days seems so sublime; it was a time when actors and actresses were regarded as real artists, in the literal meaning of the word, unlike today. 

My problem with these reviews is that I cannot spoil the fun  so it is impossible to share too many details, even though I would love to boast about how perfect these exhibitions were. So I will only list my favorite parts:

- the collection of photos with every single actress who has played Jeanne d'Arc since the performance of Gizi Bajor

- the exhibition hall with the ballet theme where I could try some ballet positions.

- the astonishingly detailed maquettes of the stage sets and the room with the small stage were I could pretend to be an actress 

- the characteristic bow-tie of the funniest Hungarian comic, Kálmán Latabár ( he is the funniest for me at least)

- the death-mask of Gizi Bajor (as creepy as it sounds, there was something beautiful about it)

After the visit, if time allows, I recommend everyone to stay and  sit on a bench in the garden, enjoy the view. To make the best of the day we did not head straight home but decided to wander around Buda a little, which turned out to be a great idea. Our last stop was the Lánchíd Restaurant and Pub, which was a kind of perfect finish of our time travel experience. It is a classic rock themed pub so from the 1950's of the theater world we were transported to the 1960's. Also, the Melange is great there, not to mention the cheerful staff.