In an exclusive way you can see the Goetheory of Karoly Szelenyi through spectacular experiments. The Central Market Hall is one of our most popular touristic destinations, where a further attraction is the introduction of the best-known Central Halls of the world in an interactive way. It has already received international interest and serious appreciation of the World Union of Wholesale Markets at the conference, held in Budapest.

The modernization of the area of the basement of the Central Market Hall was necessary. It has also provided the opportunity to serve the greatly increased touristic interest for the building in a new, demanding approach.

In the past few years the interest of foreigners in Budapest has increased significantly. The Market Hall has become the fourth most popular touristic sight of the capital. Through the renovation of the Central Market Hall 21 years ago and it’s regular and professional maintenance, the building kept its freshness and modernization so much that it received the title of The Best Market of CNN Travel in 2013.

Besides the fast increasing popularity of the building, its prime task is to serve and supply the locals according to its original function. Due to the constant changes of market demands, the Market Hall has constantly renewed, matching the multiply requirements of the authorities.

In some periods of the day the ground floor and the area of the gallery have limited capacity. There is a possibility to increase trade only at the, nowadays, less visited area of the basement. The functions set there are limited due to the requirements of the freight traffic and the endowment of the structure of the building. The fish and pickles trade at the basement level is supposed to be handled as an endowment. At present the only buyers who visit that area are buyers who wish to purchase those goods.

All kinds of development can only be completed after the overview of all structures of the whole building considering the serious technical condition of the establishment as a national monument and a tourist destination. The goal of the management of the Market Hall is to revive the attendance of the basement and in this way of the shops, too and to draw the attention of tourists to this storey. With this goal, the upper floors receive more customers and at the same time the amount of time one spends at the Market Hall will increase which can further increase the turnover of trade.

All new functional demands occurring must be matched with the maintenance of the architectural attraction of the Market Hall. A solution had to be found for the fact that such a demand appeared for the daily sale in the basement where the sight of mobile stalls didn’t meet the requirements of the Hall.

They also obstructed the grandeur of the Hall, the general view, the access due to the restriction of the aisles. The mobile stalls have permanent, modern premises on the unused sections, and then renewed territory alongside the supermarket Aldi. This way the original aisle is unobstructed and vendors could move to a more comfortable and organized place.

In order to open and restore the magnificence of the original aisle, which is also considered to be an art-relic, moving the stalls blocking the way was a precondition of the program.
Considering the endowments, The Hall and Market Management of the Municipality of Budapest has announced a renewal program. With its help, besides keeping and serving the original, obligatory functions, keeping the primary functions in mind, it enriches the basement area with such a program which will significantly increase the attendance of that floor.

Improving the lower floor has two goals. On one hand, increasing the attendance and turnover of the present shops with the expansion of the market sights, and on the other hand, drawing attention to the local, quality Hungarian products and introducing the many excellent local values. Instead of the general and typical worthless tourist products, we intend to draw the attention of tourism to real values.

The Central Market Hall has become part of the image of the country. In this way it is putting quality products and quality services forward serving not only the interests of the Market Hall but also contributing to the introduction of the country’s fine values. Thus a further goal of the operation was to complete the area of the basement with such a program, connecting to the basic program of the Market Hall, which adds to the local sights and in addition intensifies the attendance of the local shops.

The versatile program of the Avenue of Hungaricums has been created as a result of this. The Avenue of Hungaricums provides unique experiences for tourists strolling around and also local visitors – it wishes to gain the attention of returning visitors with its sights, opportunities and interactive presentations.

The function, besides the sights, also offers a program where the personal experience can become a goal itself, which, according to plans, will increase the attendance of the area. Primarily, alongside the market function only special, short, flash experiences can appear so that it would have the impression of an extra program and would appear as a plus for customers.

At the same time the place should appear more attractive for people who are less prone to purchase and for children, accepting that for them the sight itself and the experience of natural science become priority. The aisle on the basement floor is also capable of introducing and popularizing the most excellent, obtainable Hungarian foods and souvenirs in the Market Hall. It can enhance the reputation of the country if tourists really meet and get to know authentic Hungarian products of excellent quality.

Paprika of Szeged and Kalocsa, Gyulai and Csabai sausage, Hertz and Pick Salami, acacia honey, lavender products of Tihany, Tokaji Aszu, goose liver, soda-water, embroidery of Kalocsa, Rubik cube, Zsolnay porcelain, onion of Mako, Beres drops, palinka and Unicum are all exhibited in the spectacular glass cabinets.

The descriptions of each product, their past, cultural importance and tradition can be read both in Hungarian and English. Our goal is to present the authentic and real values. The installation system of the Avenue of Hungaricums has the possibility of improvement. The display doesn’t aim to be complete.

There is a possibility given to introduce further national values in the remaining free show cases. Walking along the aisle one can have a picture of the most excellent products of Hungarian agriculture and food industry which can be purchased on the spot.

The system is willing to connect the products displayed in the avenue with the excellent, quality Hungarian products sold in the stalls. There has been a balanced system created through the pictograms and images introducing products both on the basement floor and the first floor in the stalls. Improving the basement floor provides an opportunity for the improvement of the stalls on the upper floors.

In the end of the alley on the area of the stairway that wasn’t in use before, the 22 Hungarian wine regions and typical species of Hungarian grapes can be seen. The wine regions can be identified on a three-dimension map. The world of Hungarian wines and the history of Hungarian vine-culture are also displayed on boards. Out of the 22 wine regions the Tokaji wine region is known worldwide, because of this, its display is well emphasized.

The “Gönci” barrel and cooper tools from the 19th century and the wine bottles of different shapes from the 19th century up to the present can also be seen. Displaying the wine bottle paper labels introduces the evolution of wine culture and represents the spirit serving its development.

The wine exhibition introduces not only the tradition, the past, but also our quality winery of the present. Due to the co-operation with the Hungarian Wine Academy the board of the oenologists of the year also enriches this place. It provides the opportunity to complete it with the board of the newly recognised oenologist every year.

The Central Market Hall of Budapest deserves special attention among the market halls of the world, too. In several countries market halls naturally are attached to the wholesale markets. Their international organization (WUWM) held its conference in Budapest in 2015. There are big size windows on the basement floor that provide the possibility to show the important market halls and markets from all over the world.

The system gives the opportunity for an interactive connection with the market places showing their actions and events. With the help of the foreign partners and proper publicity, expectedly, foreign tourists visiting the market hall will be happy to see the market place of their own country. This will also strengthen the touristic attraction of the basement level.

In Hungary the only possibility to see the Gomboc publicly is in the Central Market Hall. It was introduced in the best-known scientific journals of the world as scientific sensation although, for long, its existence was hypothetical among mathematicians. The Gomboc is a convex three-dimensional homogeneous body, which, when resting on a flat surface, has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. It’s proven that a body with less than two balance points can’t exist.

The mathematical invention is one of the most significant Hungarian scientific achievements of the past years. The Gomboc was one of the sensations of the Shanghai World Exhibition and 6 million people visited the Hungarian pavilion in order to see the Hungarian invention. The Gomboc as an exhibit has been displayed at several places from the Museum of Göttingen University to the Hungarian National Museum. Collectors look for the uniquely produced and, due to its complicated production technology, extremely expensive mathematical body.

The Hall and Market Management provided the opportunity to this worldwide known Hungarian invention with the aim to make this natural scientific patent tangible. At the beginning of the Avenue of Hungaricums, a “ Gomboc stroker” has been built, where – at certain times, under supervision - the public can try the Gomboc and so they can learn its theoretical and ideological possibilities and its value for future practice.

The display area is attractive, despite being inside, in the basement as the spectacular elements are enhanced. In the glass cabinet, built at the portal, the biggest Gomboc that technically can be produced is exhibited.

Just the sight of it is very attractive but also, on both its sides, dual video shows attract one’s attention introducing its movement, behaviour and natural analogy. In the Market Hall visitors can even hold the Gomboc, the invention of Gabor Domokos and Peter Varkonyi, in their hands and can experience it’s functioning.

At the other end of the Avenue of Hungaricums, similar to the Gomboc display, another natural scientific phenomenon can be experienced. At that point the prism of Goethe (Goetheory) can be seen, according to the concept of Karoly Szelenyi.

His work, summarizing the photographer’s achievements of studies of colours, that Szelenyi had been working on for decades, was published in Germany for the 200th anniversary of the publication of Goethe’s Colour Theory. As they said: “With this work Karoly Szelenyi has given Goethe’s colours back to the world.”

The water-prism set in the space is a spectacular, 3-meter long version of the one that Goethe, the German writer, experimented with for his studies of colours. In 1704, Isaac Newton, the English physicist, passed a beam of white light through a three-sided prism dividing the spectrum into seven colours, which did not contain magenta, considered to be a base colour.

Goethe, besides writing, had been dealing with colours for 40 years and did not accept Newton’s theory. Goethe, investigating the surroundings through a prism, observed that when black and white surfaces meet, on both sides two colours appear. When they get closer to one another green appears and also magenta, the colour that doesn’t exist among the colours of the spectrum.

It was Karoly Szelenyi who photographed this phenomenon the first time, and this can be seen at the point he designed. Goethe created the 6-part symmetric colour wheel which is the basis of each colour wheel that is in use presently. On the glass surface placed in front of the prism the colour formations drawn in the poet’s book of colour theory can be seen.

The year of Light is celebrated this year and in the Avenue of Hungaricums one can see the wonderful formation of the 6 base colours of the colour wheel.

A 1.80 meters tall egg, hanging in space, serves as a tool to introduce the connections and contrasts of colours. The 6 base colours are red, green, and violet (plus colours) and magenta, yellow and cyan blue (minus colours). While showing the plus colours the further colours of the scale of colours appear. It is amazingly impressive and attractive how the power and beauty of colours on the surface of the white egg show up. We can observe their harmonious connection or contrast.

The COLOUR SPACE (SZÍN-TÉR) is offering one more possibility to observe colours:
Researchers and artists had been dealing with the connection of colours and music for centuries. In 1914 Imre Kner, typographer, defined the sound of dur and moll and their variation in colours. The screened colours reflect the sounds of the Hungarian folk song according to the concept of Imre Kner.

Source: piaconline.hu
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