Matthias Fountain
Encyclopedia
Matthias Fountain is a monumental fountain group in the western forecourt of Buda Castle
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, first completed in 1265. In the past, it was also called Royal Palace and Royal Castle ....

, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. Alajos Stróbl
Alajos Stróbl
Alajos Stróbl was a Hungarian sculptor and artist. His work can be best characterized with sensitive realistic modelling and he became one of the most renowned sculptors of memorials in Hungary at the turn of the 20th century....

’s Neo-Baroque work is one of the most frequently photographed objects in the Hungarian capital. It is sometimes called the ’Trevi Fountain of Budapest’.

Description

The group depicts a hunting
Deer hunting
Deer hunting is survival hunting or sport hunting, harvesting deer, dating back to tens of thousands of years ago. Which occurred though out Europe Asia and North America There are numerous types of deer throughout the world that are hunted.- New Zealand :...

 party led by Matthias Corvinus, the king of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. The bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 figures are standing on heaps of rocks against the backdrop of the northern facade of the former Castle Church. Water is running down between the cracks of the boulders. The whole theatrical arrangement bears resemblance to the famous Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain
The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres high and 20 metres wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world....

 in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 although it is on a much smaller scale.

The monumental facade behind the fountain is flanked by two pairs of giant Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...

 columns. The original balustrade crowning and the Mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

 was richer in details but it was simplified after the second world war. The central niche forms a triumphal arch
Triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be...

 which is decorated with King Matthias' personal coat of arms. The Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

 arboreal decoration of the niche creates an interesting stylistic contrast with the more traditional taste of the fountain. The surface is decorated with a plain golden mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

.

King Matthias is standing on the highest rock in hunting attire. He is holding a crossbow in his right and a huge stag lies dead at his feet. On the lower rocks a henchman blows his horn and the leader of the hunting group rests sitting on a boulder with his back towards the viewer. Three hound
Hound
A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey, and with the retriever, which recovers shot quarry...

s complete the central group.

There are two more bronze figures on the sides of the basin. They are connected to the central group with gestures and gazes but they have their own plinths. On the right is Szép Ilonka (Helen the Fair), heroine of a famous 19th century ballad by Mihály Vörösmarty
Mihály Vörösmarty
Mihály Vörösmarty was an important Hungarian poet and dramatist.He was born at Puszta-Nyék , of a noble Roman Catholic family. His father was a steward of the Nádasdys. Mihály was educated at Székesfehérvár by the Cistercians and at Pest by the Piarists...

. The girl is looking towards the king protecting her tame fawn from the hunters. On the right is the Italian chronicler, Galeotto Marzio who lived in King Matthias court. A dog lies at his feet and a falcon
Falcon
A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....

 sits on his arm.

History

The fountain was erected by sculptor Alajos Stróbl
Alajos Stróbl
Alajos Stróbl was a Hungarian sculptor and artist. His work can be best characterized with sensitive realistic modelling and he became one of the most renowned sculptors of memorials in Hungary at the turn of the 20th century....

 and Alajos Hauszmann
Alajos Hauszmann
Hauszmann Alajos was an Austro-Hungarian architect, professor, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.-Life:...

, master builder of the reconstruction of the Royal Palace. The composition scheme was approved by King Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

, and Stróbl began the work in 1899. The figures of the henchman won a state gold medal in 1901. The stag was modelled after a majestic animal which was killed in 1896 by poachers in the forest where Stróbl went hunting. The modells for the hounds were sent by duke Pálffy to the scluptor. The fountain was inaugurated in the presence of the king in 1904.

The fountain survived the destuction of the second world war with minor damage. Only the middle dog was destroyed but it was reconstructed by Jenő Grantner (the artistic quality is lower than the originals). The simplified architectural crowning also created a bit of disharmony in the composition.

Matthias Fountain was restored in 2010.
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