Oldal 457 [457]
MÓNIKA PILKHOFFER
Several followers and even more emulators of Lechner appeared.” National
style became popular mostly in the cities of the Great Plain region: “where the
peasant citizens found ornamentations from folk art close to their hearts.”
It was applied by choice in regions with mixed nationalities since it was
considered to be “an indirect but effective means of cultural assimilation”.”®
However, it could not take root in Transdanubian cities, a fact well
demonstrated by the design contest for the city hall of Pécs, in which case the
jury remarked regarding Károly Fülöps work that its style made the edifice
too expensive, and moreover it did not fit into the cityscape.”
At the beginning of the 20" century the younger generation turned away
from so-called “gingerbread Art Nouveau”, since they found Lechner’s vital
error was that he solely took ornamentations from folk art and applied them
on the facades of city architecture instead of originating his compositions in
the whole of folk architecture.
Transylvanian study tours became very popular among artists in the
period and their outcomes were incorporated into the works of architects
” For more about the topic see: János Gerle: A Lechner követőkről, in László Pusztai —
András Hadik (eds.): Lechner Ödön 1845-1914 emlékkiállítás a művész születésének 140.
evfordulöjara,1985, 74-82.
Ilona Särmäny-Parsons: Magyarorszägi väroshäz-epületek a századfordulón. Történeti
Tanulmányok. 3., Debrecen, KLTE Történelmi Intézet, 1994, 59-63.
2 Mónika Pilkhoffer: Pécs építészete a szdazadfordulon (1888-1907), Pecs, Pro Pannonia, 2004,
195.
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