The stained-glass windows on display were designed by Miklós Bánffy and executed by András Makkai, glass artist from Mănăstireni.
The World of Miklós Bánffy and Károly Kós
Last December we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Miklós Bánffy and the 140th anniversary of the birth of Károly Kós. To mark the occasion, a travelling exhibition entitled The World of Miklós Bánffy and Károly Kós was created with the support of the Ministry of Construction and Transport, exploring the intertwining lives of the two polyhistors.
The two prominent figures in the spotlight were writers, visual artists, experienced in the visual and dramaturgical aspects of theatre, who did not abandon their native Transylvania in the wake of the trauma of Trianon, but left behind an easier life to build and uplift their homeland, and pursued a cultural and political mission here at home. The exhibition gives an insight into the most important moments of their artistic friendship, which goes beyond the everyday intellectual dialogue, the two artists’ parallel careers, which they pursued in their lives, responding to the political and artistic challenges of the time.
In addition to revisiting the common features in the lives of these outstanding people, the exhibition also includes previously unpublished private collection material and stained-glass windows designed by Miklós Bánffy and executed by glass artist András Makkai (Prince Csaba on the Starry Path and Attila, the Whip of God). A new addition to the exhibition is the display of chess pieces carved by Károly Kós, which are part of the Kós legacy, and an original copy of the volume A Book about Horses.
The organisers would like to thank János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Transport, who invited the Miklós Bánffy travelling exhibition to Hódmezővásárhely in 2014, and later helped in the most difficult phase of the renovation of the Bethlen-Bánffy crypt in the Ictar.
Special thanks are also due to the Kós family, especially Katalin Kós, head of the Györkös Mányi Albert Memorial House in Cluj, for the expert selection of documents and objects never seen before, which she made available to the exhibition.
