SLOVAK NATIONAL GALLERY – HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Eszterházy Palace, the only functioning building of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava, is ready to welcome guests to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Slovak National Gallery. Neo-renaissance Eszterházy Palace was designed by architect Ignatz Feigler jr (1820-1894) and was built in 1870. The white buffet tent in front of it was set up specially for this occasion to offer refreshments. And first guests start coming…

In the centre of the facade of the Slovak National Gallery Eszterházy Palace in Bratislava a huge banner appeared. Moreover, posters with the same word – Živijó! – Happy Birthday – could be seen at many more places in Bratislava, too. They invited those interested to come and join the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Slovak National Gallery on 28th July, 2018. As I am a big fan of the gallery I was there promptly on time, well ahead of 6:00 PM when the birthday program was supposed to start.

It was nice to have a coffee in Berlinka Café and then to browse in Ex Libris Bookstore, both in the same building. More and more people kept coming and a huge crowd gathered in front of the building. Everybody wanted to participate in circling around the construction site of the gallery with its director general. The director general was so astonished at the amount of curious fellows present that she was not even able to speak into the loudspeaker properly. But could have all people there be able to hear her even if she did?

Never mind the commentary, seeing the reconstruction sites is important. Come with me!

Office building of the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava in Riečna Street was constructed in the 1970s and closed in 2013. It was designed by architect Vladimír Dedeček. This is the first building we “inspect” during our circling around the construction site

Here you can see a part of the inquisitive crowd during the second stop of our “circling around”. This is in the courtyard between the office building and the Water Barracks

Please no no nooo! I cannot believe this! A staircase glued to the wing of Water Barracks, destroying beautiful arches of the Water Barracks. And columns just thrown somewhere among the steps, no symmetry, no harmony, no logic. In my opinion this is just the equivalent of barbarism. The Water Barracks were constructed in 1763

The third stop during our circling around is in the courtyard of the Water Barracks

Disemboweled Water Barracks as of today. I´m doing my best to be optimistic and to believe that the gallery will be reopened here as planned on 20th June 2019. Well, that should be in 11 months… Three out of four original wings of Water Barracks are preserved until today

The corner of Eszterházy Palace can be seen and next to it behing the scaffolding is the bridge building which was constructed in the 1970s to replace the destroyed street wing of the Water Barracks. After our stop which took us under the bridge building to the Water Barracks courtyard we return about this corner back to Eszterházy Palace and thus the circle closes

Yes, the circle closes and we are back in the Esterházy Palace where several interesting lectures are waiting for us. At 7:00 PM we learn from a curator about the lives of two icons of modernism – Emil Filla (1882-1953) who was Czech and our very own Slovak beloved Ľudovít Fulla (1902-1980). Works of art of both these artists are exhibited here now – FILLA-FULLA – The Artist´s Fate – exhibition – until 21st October 2018.

At 8:00 PM we move to another floor, as two more curators give their best to educate us about works of art of 14th-18th centuries – Gothic and Baroque – from the collection of SNG which are exhibited here within nestex exhibition – an impermanent slovak national gallery exhibition. Artefacts are placed in six sections I feel sad that the occasion is the last day of this exhibition, however, it lasted for four years.

Curator is explaining why Gothic wooden statues are hollow and the audience listens carefully – this is art within reach

Galleries are wonderful places where you can come and admire wonderful works of art. You can learn about them and their creators. The fact that they are preserved in a good condition and presented for viewing is crucial. This particular gallery, as we have already seen at the beginning of this article, functions now in somewhat curtailed mode – due to the fact, that some of its buildings are shut-up for reconstruction. Exhibition space is limited. I appreciate the endeavour of this gallery to invite us, general public, to join in the celebrations.

As you can see, we were able to inspect how the reconstruction works are continuing and in the working part of the gallery we were able to participate in spirited activities in exhibition areas. Thanks to all employees who went out of their way to educate us. However, what I missed, was the presence of some representative of our state government or city government, there was nobody from the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic – yes, we have such ministry… Seems that people working there have other activities occupying them than to say a few words to common people hungry for art…