2014 – Budapest Opera House

Budapest Opera House. The Mechanism Behind the Scenes

The exhibition open from October 2014 till March 2015 focused on the original architectural drawings of the famous Neo-Renaissance building and also presented its innovations in the technical fields. The Budapest Opera House was inaugurated on the 27th of September 1884. In the exhibition the original ventilation, fire prevention, srinkler and lighting systems of the building were presented. The fire tragedy in the Viennese Ringtheater in 1881 drew attention to the importance of improving fire prevention methods in theatres. Therefore at the Budapest Opera House a new hydraulic stage mechanism system was installed called Asphaleia after the name of a Viennese Syndicate proposing a new, fire-proof stagecraft system. In the exhibition a simplified model presented the working method of the stagecraft system which was used for almost 100 years in the Opera House. The exhibition was curated by Márta Branczik.