The Palace of Culture in Tîrgu-Mureş is an outstanding monument of urban architecture in the High Transylvanian Secession style. It belonged to the great and distinguished stylistic family of 1900 Art, a broad cultural movement whose innovative breath swept across Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The construction, between 1911 and 1913, of the Palace of Culture is symbolically linked, as a founding event, to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Against this anniversary background, in 1907, the Hungarian Parliament passed the law on the construction of Cultural Palaces aiming at asserting the official, dominant culture in the entire Hungarian Kingdom. The tutelary figure was Emperor Franz Joseph, the supreme founding authority of these cultural establishments. As a sign of homage and allegiance to him, the Palace of Culture in Tîrgu-Mureş was initially named after the Austro-Hungarian emperor.
The local personality responsable for carrying out this important, complex and costly project was the mayor of Târgu Mureş, Dr. Bernády György (1864-1938).
(by Sidonia GRAMA)
The Palace of Culture, iconic for its Art Nouveau style, is a symbol of Târgu Mureş. This splendid edifice is managed by the Mureş County Museum, and supported by the Mureş County Council.
The palace, from its construction, was destined as a cultural centre; to this day, it serves this purpose, being also the home of three major public institutions: the Mures County Museum, the County Library and the Târgu Mureş State Philharmonic
Major county events also take place at the Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureş such as concerts, music festivals, theatre performances, congresses.
Museum and Gallery
The Palace of Culture hosts the city’s art exhibitions: The Romanian Modern Art Gallery, the Hungarian Classical Art Gallery, the Ion Vlasiu Gallery, the Elisabeta and Gheorghe David Donation Gallery and the Dósa Géza Gallery are the permanent galleries that can be visited.
The palace is home to temporary national or international exhibitions as well. Some of the exhibitions organized in the previous years were: ‘Romania’s Ancient Gold and Silver’, ‘Engravings by Dürer, Mantegna, Hogarth’, bringing the most beautiful engravings from the Budapest Art Museum, ‘The Colours of Arcadia’ or the masterpieces from the Zichy Collection of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts – the first time this collection has been in Romania.
Along with the art galleries, the Concert Hall, the Hall of Mirrors and three museum exhibitions are open for visit: the György Bernády and Emil Dandea Memorial Rooms as well as the Secession Hall.
The Târgu Mureş State Philharmonic
Established in 1950 thanks to the efforts of exceptional musicians such as Zeno Vancea and Kozma Géza, this institution has been organizing and supporting symphonic, vocal-symphonic, opera, choral, chamber and educational concerts for over 60 years, so that everyone may enjoy the beauty of classical music. Every year, the Philharmonic organises three wide-ranging festivals: Târgu Mureş Musical Days, the In Memoriam Constantin Silvestri Festival, Musica Sacra International Festival. In addition the public enjoys various other projects – performances of film music or the Easter and Christmas concerts.
The County Library
As early as 1913, when the Palace of Culture was brought into use, a whole wing of the impressive edifice was given the destination of Municipal Library. The number of books increased over time, today consisting of a large stock of books of over 900.000 volumes in the domains of literature, diverse scientific and technical books as well as children’s books.
(From the special edition of TB 86 – „ENJOY TRANSYLVANIA!” – May/June 2019)
