title: Einflüsse der Mogularchitektur in Mitteleuropa am Beispiel Ödön Lechners
Creators: name: Koderbauer, Elisabeth
Publisher: name: :none
Year: 2012

description: Die Arbeit bemüht sich die Gründe zu recherchieren, warum Ödön Lechner Elemente der Mogularchitektur in seine Architektursprache übernahm. Speziell die Innengestaltung des zwischen 1892 und 1896 errichteten Kunstgewerbemuseums in Budapest zeigt Formen, die der Architektur der indischen Moguln entspringen. Lechner berief sich häufig auf eine im 19. Jahrhundert verbreitete jedoch illusorische These, nach der die Wurzeln des ungarischen Volkes in entlegenen Regionen wie Persien oder Indien zu finden sind. Infolge bediente sich Lechner auf seiner Suche nach einer Nationalkunst für das ungarische Volk indischer Bauformen, die für ihn in Kombination mit ungarischer Volkskunst einen authentischen Nationalstil begründen sollten. Diese Arbeit ist bemüht die möglichen Quellen Ödön Lechners in England oder auch direkt in Ungarn aufzuspüren. Welche Bauten könnte er auf den britischen Inseln gesehen haben? Welche Elemente der Mogularchitektur übernimmt Lechner? Warum orientiert sich Lechner an der indischen Kunst, um einen nationalen Stil zu schaffen? Gibt es noch andere Bauwerke in Mitteleuropa, die von der Mogularchitektur beeinflusst sind?
description: The author’s thesis is an effort in trying to analyze why architect Ödön Lechner used elements of Mughal Architecture for the interior of his Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest. It was built from 1892 to 1896 and could be labelled as the one reception of Mughal architecture in Middle Europe. Lechner himself often referred to a widely known but non-scientific thesis that Indian and Hungarian art is related. According to this thesis the roots of the Hungarian culture would lie in far away regions like Persia and India. Consequently Lechner used Indian elements to establish a national Hungarian style he thought to be authentic. The most important questions that emerged while researching this topic were the following: Are there other examples of a reception of Mughal architecture in Middle Europe? Why did he use Indian elements and motifs to establish a national style? Which are his sources of inspiration and what did he know of Mughal architecture itself? The results of this research are that the Museum of Applied Arts is in some points unique and could well be seen as the last building erected in “Indian style”. There are in fact other buildings with “oriental” appearances but there the elements are often only used in an eclectic way and without much thought on the origin of the elements or they are solemnly used to show the function of the building, for example if it is an Arabic Cafe. Lechners followers adopted some of his stylistic features, mainly his affinity to Hungarian folk art; the use of Indian elements and motifs was mostly disregarded. The question of his inspiration cannot be sufficiently answered as there are many possible sources like the colonial architecture in Britain, the famous world fairs of his time or the many publications and photos that were available in his country and in all of Europe. It is not possible to limit his knowledge to one specific building or publication.