Supporting Arts and Conveying Culture

The first independent city art gallery founded in the countryside was opened in Miskolc in 1967. Its foundation leads back to the period between the two world wars when there was an art colony based on the traditions of Nagybánya, and an exhibition by Lévay József Cultural Organisation. In the mid 1950s national exhibitions were organized in the city. In 1961 the series of Graphic Biennales of Miskolc started, which made Miskolc become “the Hungarian capital city of graphics”.

The Art Gallery of Miskolc has an important part in looking after the life-work of great Hungarian graphic artists such as Szalay Lajos. Kondor Béla and Feledy Gyula. It makes art history with its series of the history of graphics and it gives an overview of the art life of the region with the Winter Exhibition.

Nowadays the Art Gallery of Miskolc has started new ways of supporting art and conveying culture. It has started several new projects which make it possible for visitors with various interests to get to know the world of art better. The Nagy Kunszt Study Museum of Contemporary Fine Arts aims at the younger generation with museum educational programmes and publications. Conferences and presentations are organised with exhibitions to help the communication between artists and the public.

The Art Gallery of Miskolc is full of various artistic programmes linked to literature, music, films and dance, and this makes the gallery become an important artistic institution in the city. Other buildings of the art gallery also have a similar function.

Rákóczi House

It is the central building of the Art Gallery of Miskolc. It has temporary exhibitions of the works of contemporary artists. There is a permanent exhibition on the attic, where we can see the works of Kondor Béla, who won the Award of Graphic Biennale in 1963.

Petró House

In this building in Hunyadi street, there is a permanent exhibition showing the life and works of the world famous graphic artist, Szalay Lajos, and there is an art library as well. Szalay Lajos, who finished his secondary studies in Miskolc, returned over 4 decades later, in 1988 and worked and lived in the city until his death in 1995.

Creative House

The Creative House can be found in the Csabai Gate. The graphic past of the city determines this house. The workshops are equipped with manual duplicating machines so the artists working here are able to use relief, intaglio and flat printing to make their work.

Feledy House

The permanent exhibition in the house shows the work of Feledy Gyula, who was a prominent figure in the Hungarian graphics by reforming it and making artistic life active. The building functions not only as an exhibition hall but it is the home of organizations and cultural events, too.

The Museum of the History of Acting, Actresses and Actors

The permanent exhibition titled “Hódolván Tháliának” (Venerating Thalia) shows the history of acting in Miskolc from the days of barnstorming till today. The first stone theatre in Miskolc was on the place where the building is situated. There are temporary exhibitions and other programmes organized in the museum.

In the cellar of the building you can find the Teátrum Cellar Gallery, which offers exhibitions of the works of contemporary young fine artists living in the neighbourhood.