We expect our retired visitors with discounted-price tickets. For further details, click here!
The Golden Age of Zsolnay – The Gyugyi collection
The exhibition is a jewel in the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, presenting on of the most significant collection of Zsolnay in the world. Each work of art displayed at the more than 600-piece exhibition was made in the Zsolnay factory in the period from the 1870s to the end of the 1910s. This era was the golden age of the plant when the decorative ceramics of Pécs were popular around the world, and later became renowned and sought after everywhere. The collection, featuring vases, bowls, flower pots, decorative pitchers, and small statues testifies the evolution, diversity and three great periods of Zsolnay ceramics: historicism, millennium and secession (Art Nouveau). The value of the collection is further increased by a variety of unique pieces, a copy of which are not known. The pieces of the collection made a long way until they were returned to their birthplace thanks to the nearly four-decade-long dedicated collectors’ work of the former owner, Lászlo Gyugyi living in the US.
Zsolnay Family and Factory History Exhibition
The exhibition reveals the diverse and amazing history Zsolnay family to the public. The emblematic personality of Vilmos Zsolnay, the brilliant ceramic is very much alive in the public mind. It was him who made the Zsolnay products a world-wide brand. The exhibition presents dynasty moments of the life of the distinguished industrialist dynasty, from the simple industrial ceramics to the most decorative ornamental pieces, and life-changing events of the family. How did they manage to achieve this impressive growth and what were the turning points in the history of the Zsolnay factory? The successful inventions of Vilmos Zsolnay played a significant part, including the porcelain faience eosin techniques gaining worldwide fame, the pyrogranite inspiring a whole architectural trend, the Hungarian Art Nouveau at the turn of the last century. One cannot forget any of the hundreds of workers, many of whom served the artistic and business success of the manufacture through several generations.
The Pink Zsolnay Exhibition
A true magical world of pink comes to life for visitors at the exhibition. Nearly four decades ago a wine jug in the family inheritance awoke the love for Barnabas Winkler Ybl-winning architect to "pinks" and ignited his collecting passion, resulting in the some 1200-piece ensemble of the Pink Zsolnay exhibition. The exhibition displays the everyday objects of Zsolnay - coffee- and teapots, soap holders, mugs, cake moulds, cookie and cake trays, lard containers and wine pitchers which were a result of Vilmos Zsolnay pink-experiments. Each piece of the exhibition is unique: the hand-made "pinks" all have something unique, either in the shape, but often due to the different hues of their glaze.
Zsolnay Mausoleum
Close to the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Zsolnay Mausoleum, standing on the adjacent hill, can be viewed in its original splendor. The edifice is the resting place of the Zsolnay family, where 42 lions guard the secret of eosin. The mausoleum of the factory founder was built after the 1900 death of Vilmos Zsolnay by his son, Miklós. The neo-Romanesque building is a burial chapel and a burial chamber beneath it includes eosin ornate sarcophagus, and 32 coffin chambers. According to legend, at winter solstice, when the sun is at its zenith, the incident light reveals the secret of eosin, and it becomes known for everyone.
