Bagolyvár (the Owl Castle)

In the heart of Baja, right below the Szentháromság square, on the high bank of Sugovica, the Bauhaus building, famously known as Bagolyvár (the Owl Castle) has been standing there since the 1930s. It was once the home of the painter, founder of the museum, local patriot, citizen of Baja, Ferencz Miskolczy (1899-1994). He donated his property to the city of Baja during his lifetime, along with a portion of his private collection, requesting that his house should be opened as a memorial house after his death.

The exhibition presents the local characteristics of urban history and art history periods in Baja between 1920 and 1990, the everyday life of the civic city of Bácska, its creators and patrons of culture, people who can be role models for us, and visitors can gain insights into the secrets of a special, unique public collection-founding and enriching processes.

By presenting the home and works of art of Ferenc Miskolczy, we would like to draw the attention of visitors to the variations of the processing of the cultural heritage of Bácska and Sárköz in the first half of the 20th century through the painter’s works as well as to the spectacular parallels between the ethnographic and artistic heritage of a region and the intertwining of peasant and civic culture. Between 1925 and 1945, the painter took part in the relocation and production of several public monuments in Baja (several works by Ferenc Medgyessy). He also actively participated in the activity of a relief work (carpet weaving) workshop founded in 1922 and led by the wife of mayor Ferenc Borbíró (Vojnich), the documentation of which is on display alongside with other related materials from the archives. We would like to present this body of work and this local patriotic, preservationist, founder and enricher of public collections attitude as a role model to all visitors.

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