The Arad Museum Compound

Western Romanias region of Banat is a multiethnic and multicultural region.

Christine Leșcu, 28.05.2016, 14:58

Western Romanias region of Banat, which is a multiethnic and multicultural region, also boasts lots of tourist assets, thanks to both its landscape and townscape. Two of Romanias most beautiful cities can be found in Banat, Timisoara and Arad. As for the latter town, the Culture Palace stands out thanks to its exterior and interior designs. The Culture Palace is a component of Arads Museum Compound. Visiting it is just like taking a tour of various regions of the country. The director of Arads Museum Compound, Peter Hugel, has referred to the institution he runs and has extended us an invitation to visit it.

Peter Hugel: The main building of the Museum in Arad is the Culture Palace, situated downtown and a landmark of the city. It was inaugurated in 1913 and designed to host the local museum, the philharmonics and the library. The museum proper is a bit older, having been opened as early as 1893, on the premises of a building offered temporarily, on loan, by the State Theater. Twenty years later, it finally received its headquarters, at the Culture Palace. Today the building plays host to archaeology, history and natural sciences exhibitions and it also has numerous storage rooms. Another building is housing the Art Museum, the former Agricultural Palace, an architectural gem located in the city center, and completed in 1908. Apart from these, the museum also owns other buildings across the county, in Siria, where you can find the Ioan Slavici Memorial House, the Emil Montia Memorial Museum housed by the Bohus Castle, an emblematic building for the western part of the country. At the same time, in Lipova, we have another historical building, which houses the Sever Bocu Memorial. We should also mention the art collection and the Eugenia and Eugen Popa Memorial House in Savarsin, actually a family mansion, which was donated to our museum.

One of Arads landmarks, the Culture Palace was designed as a museum from the very beginning.

Peter Hugel: The Culture Palace was created by Arad architect Ludovic Szantay. The construction of a cultural palace in Arad was an earlier wish of the towns municipality and intellectuals. It was the initiative of a cultural society founded in 1891, which wanted to be in line with the cultural movement that swept Europe in late 19th century. There were not enough funds at the time, but in the early 20th century, the municipality, with financial aid from Budapest, initiated an international project competition, with 27 European architects taking part. In the end, none of the competitors was declared winner, and Arads architect, Szantay, received the task of blending most elements from the competing projects into an original one. Thats how the Culture Palace came into being. It has a composite style because the architect tried to combine all the styles in the county of Arad at that time in a single building. So, the frontal part is in the classical style, the rear building is in the Romantic style, resembling the inner tower of the Soimus fortress. The building was designed to house the museums relic collection, comprising pieces from the 1848 Revolution, including bones of the generals executed in October 1949. The building also resembles the Mausoleum in Halikarnassus. The interior has several large halls with natural skylights, which were specifically designed for the citys art gallery, which benefited from a special donation from Budapest, back in 1913.“

Although the art gallery was initially housed by the Culture Palace, its headquarters were moved and reopened in a new format in 2014.

Peter Hugel: “At that time we made the decision that after having everything refurbished, we should reorganize the building in order to present the values of Arad, which are important to the locals who may want to learn more about their artistic past. Its also important for tourists and thats why we are showcasing paintings by painters born in Arad or who had connections or made a contribution to Arads heritage. We also have on display paintings from the interwar period, such as those signed by Grigorescu and Aman as well as from prominent contemporary artists from Arad, like Sever Frentiu and Ovidiu Maitec.

Besides Romanian works of art on view at the Arad Museum, visitors can also admire European paintings belonging to various schools, Italian, Flemish and Dutch of the 16th and 17th centuries.