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After decades of renovation work, the Kisszeben main altar can finally be seen in its full glory again at the Hungarian National Gallery. The complete renovation of one of the largest and most richly decorated winged altars of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary began in 1954 and was completed in the summer of 2020. The main altar can be viewed from September 24 in the exhibition Late Gothic Winged Altars at the Hungarian National Gallery. The main altar, which had been severely damaged over the centuries, came into museum ownership at the end of the 19th century. The main altar and the two most impressive side altars, which came from the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist in Kisszeben, Sáros County, were transported to the capital in 1896, which was celebrating the country's millennium, with the intention of preserving their "art historical value". It was first installed in the Museum of Applied Arts, then in 1909 it was transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts, where it stood first in the Romanian Hall, and then between 1928 and 1944 in the Marble Hall. The altar was dismantled in November 1944, during the bombing of Budapest, and was evacuated to the museum's basement. The restoration of the damaged panels in the museum began in 1954 and continued in the 1960s. The disassembled pieces of the altar, which were in poor and incomplete condition, were transferred to the Hungarian National Gallery, the collection's storage room, in 1973, with the move of the Old Hungarian Collection. Their restoration there began in the late 1980s, and the restoration of most of the sculptures and panels was completed by the end of the 1990s, but the renovation of the entire main altar has only just been completed. Restorers and collaborators involved in the restoration of the altar: MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, 1954–1973 Restorations and conservation of sculptures and panels: György Kákay Szabó, Ildikó Kákay Szabó, Erika Kutas, József Lakatos, István Lente, Miklós Móré, Kálmán Németh, József Prudzik, Ludmill Siskov, Veronika Somogyiné Ember, Dezső Varga HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY, 1988–2020 Restorations of sculptures and panels: Béla Dabronaki, Tiborné Eisenmayer, Dóra Fekete, Natália Györök, Mariann Hóos, István Juhász, Márta Kázik, Mária Laurentzy, Zoltán Marjai, Szilvia Hernády Menráthné, Edit Mikó, Rozina Purnhauser, Éva Somos, Edit Szentgyörgyi, Miklós Szentkirályi, Dorottya Székely, Katalin Szutor, Marianne T. Szabó, Lajos Velledits, Péter Zetye, Orsolya Zsámboki, Krisztina Zsolnay Restoration of the structural and decorative elements: Béla Dabronaki, Mihály Bélteki, Fruzsina Csanda, Tiborné Eisenmayer, Dóra Fekete, Kinga Ganczaugh, Zsolt Hidasi, István Juhász, Márta Kázik, Gergely Kolozsvári, Péter Kozma, József Lakatos, Mária Laurentzy, Botond Márkus, Ferenc Magyari, Szilvia Hernády Menráthné, László Molnár, Gábor Németh, Dávid Rátonyi, Zsófia Szabó, Edit Szentgyörgyi, Márton Sztojanovits, Katalin Szutor, Marianne T. Szabó, Péter Zetye, Orsolya Zsámboki Restoration of the central part of the predella and the measuring instrument The ornamentation decorating the lower part and the reconstruction of the pediment were designed and executed by: Béla Dabronaki Survey drawings: Orsolya Zsámboki Art historians: Lászlóné Gerevich, Árpád Mikó, Györgyi Poszler, Gyöngyi Török Static designer, contractor (steel support stand): Múzeum Complex Kft. Photographers: Zsuzsanna Bokor, Béla Dabronaki, Tibor Mester, Csanád Szesztay Scientific investigations: Dr. Éva Galambos, Mátyás Horváth, Dorottya Székely (Hungarian University of Fine Arts) Zsolt Berta, Zoltán Kiss, Ádám Kiss and their colleagues assisted in the erection of the altar. Visit: https://mng.hu/jegyarak/ ____________________ VIDEO: Cinematographer: Gábor Dorcsák Editor: Zoltán Kárpáti Editor: Laura Kund