I am sorry to continue reporting about buildings… but you might have noticed that exploring 1900 places was one of the highlights of my stay in Budapest. I decided to visit the building of the Liszt Academy of Music and didn’t regret it. What a beautiful Art Nouveau building!
The Academy of Music is basically a music conservatory, and was created by the famous Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (or Liszt Ferencz like Hungarian say… I love how they always use the family name before the first name!). I think you might all know his famous piano piece (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpOtuoHL45Y). Good luck not to fall asleep…!
Anyway, this academy got a new building in 1907 (thanks, Wikipedia, for the date!) which is famous for being the best example of Art Nouveau in Hungary… And it surely is! Stucco work, terrazzo floors, ceramic applications, mural paintings, shell fountains… It had it all! And it has underwent an intensive restauration for years and is now bright and shiny!
The tour was funny. The guide was an old Hungarian man speaking super slowly, but in a good English! What I particularly loved are the ceramics work from the Hungarian Zsolnay manufacture. They got famous for this quite unique metallic iridescent effect and there are still several stores in Budapest where you can buy their modern production.
But pictures speak louder than words!
A very nice idea of the tour was to end it with a 15 minute piano concert of one of the best students of the academy. The visitors can thus listen to music in the temple of music, and the students can practice in front of an audience.
Free like a bear 