The Riding Hall, the Stables of Royal Palace in Gödöllő

European Day of Historic Gardens – April 26 2025

Program of activities:   „Tales with Prince Magnus Mousecastle”- discovery package for families 26-27.04.2025 With Prince Magnus Mousecastle, the number one mouse dweller of the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, you can discover the secret places, animals and plants of the palace park. With the help of the workbook, you can acquire knowledge in a playful way, and the park map helps you orientate. The self-discovery package can be found at the palace’s ticket office this weekend at a discount of 500 HUF.    Park plants and insects nature trail  26-27.04.2025. The palace park, as part of the Danube-Ipoly National Park, has many special plant varieties that would not be so beautiful without the insects that pollinate them. These little creatures don't always get the attention they deserve, so you can get to know them better on the free educational trail at the weekend.    

Be there in the garden! / “Rendez-vous aux jardins”

Be there in the garden! / “Rendez-vous aux jardins” June 6-8, 2025 Featured topic: “Stones in the garden”   Thematic programs and walks   Memories carved in stone – tour in the palace garden Stone structures that preserve the memories of Antal I. Grassalkovich, Maria Theresa, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, Saint John of Nepomuk and many other historical figures are hidden in the park and front gardens of the Royal Castle of Gödöllő. Learn about the traces and past of these structures with us! During our walk, we will recall the history of the fountains, statues and Pavilion of the French Garden. You will learn what the shooting gallery and the second pavilion were used for. But we will not pass by the Hercules Fountain, the guardhouse and Schimmel without mentioning them.   Dates: June 7th 3:00 PM in Hungarian 3:30 PM in French June 8th 3:00 PM in Hungarian Price: 1500 HUF / person, Maximum number of people 25 / group   The Kinghill Pavilion About 200 meters from the castle, the only remaining Baroque building in the park is located. The hexagonal pavilion was built by Antal I. Grassalkovich in the 1760s. The 54 oil paintings embedded in the wooden paneling of the pavilion depicted Hungarian leaders and kings. Most of the paintings were destroyed or disappeared, and by the 1980s only the bare walls of the pavilion were left standing. The building was renovated in 2002. The series of paintings was reproduced using photographic technology in 2004, and the pavilion has been open to the public since then. The Pavilion can be viewed individually for free on June 7-8 between 10:00 and 18:00.   Boldi and Bolda temporary exhibition The temporary exhibition can be viewed for free.     Barefoot Path Walking along the 14 different surfaces, stimulating the reflex points of the soles, can refresh the whole family. We recommend the path to all our visitors, regardless of age. It is free to use!   Ecoart Gallery  – Artistic Recycling In the EcoArt Gallery, interested parties can get to know the fantastic world of nearly 70 Hungarian upcycling and natural material (stone, wood) artists, unique sculptures, small sculptures, functional and design works will be on the shelves of the Gallery and Shop. It will be revealed how a bicycle gear can be turned into a wall clock, a car engine into a table, and a striking image from pebbles. Scrap metal, screws, and nails come to life as sculptures. A soup spoon that has become unnecessary is transformed into a bird, a knife into a bracelet, and a fork into a hanger. The driftwood looks great on the living room wall, but the backpack made from a fire hose is also eye-catching.   The Ecoart Gallery and Shop can be visited for free in the Bastion of the Royal Castle of Gödöllő. Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10:00-18:00, weekends: 10:00-17:00

Queen Elizabeth's favourite place in the Royal Palace of Gödöllő

The Royal Palace of Gödöllő, the former residence of the Grassalkovich family with its beautiful parks and vast forests, became Queen Elizabeth's favourite residence in Hungary. Nowadays the palace is a prominent place of the Elizabeth cult. Wilhelm Richter (1824-1892): Queen Elizabeth on horseback, 1870s,oil on canvas Collection of the Royal Palace Museum of Gödöllő   Elizabeth (1837–1898) was a famously good equestrian, and in the 1870s and 80s she was able to compete in the toughest pack hunts in England and Ireland. However, in addition to cross-country riding, she was also excellent in equestrianism, so it is not surprising that her favourite place in the palace of Gödöllő was the riding hall. The riding hall of the Royal Palace of Gödöllő in 1896 (photo: Mór Erdélyi) and today (photo: András Dabasi), on the wall you can see Károly Lotz's painting Ménes: Ménes Collection of the Royal Palace Museum of Gödöllő   The riding hall was built by Antal Grassalkovich I. in the southern part of the palace in the middle of the 18th century. In 1879-80, according to Elizabeth's ideas, it was rebuilt, a menage was created in a circle with four large mirrors so that the queen could see the movements of the horses accurately. The ornament of the riding hall was a large painting depicting beautiful horses in the Hungarian wilderness. Károly Lotz (1833–1904): Ménes (1880) was placed in Queen Elizabeth's riding hall in Gödöllő in the autumn of 1881. The painting – which is the deposit of the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery – has recently been found, identified and restored, so it can be seen again in its original location from February 2024.   Wilhelm Richter: Flick and Flock, 1877, reproduction of an oil painting, published in Egon Caesar Conte Corti: Elizabeth's biography "Die Seltsame Frau", published in 1934 Collection of the Royal Palace Museum of Gödöllő   In the 1870s, the queen bought circus horses and learned many horse stunts from Emilie Loisset and Elise Petzold, the prosthetic equestrian of the Renz circus. Elise was often in Gödöllő, became the queen's confidant, and Elizabeth gave her one of her favourite horses, Lord Byron, as a thank you. Friedrich Kaulbach painted a painting of the equestrian and her famous horse.[1] The queen regularly held horse shows for her family members and invited guests, so the riding hall was an important place for socializing. A piano was placed in the gallery, and the incidental music of the performances was played many times by Count Mária Festetics. The queen had several trainable horses, such as "Flick" and "Flock", the beautiful white steeds, whom she brought to Gödöllő in September 1878, and they had a very spectacular feat: Elizabeth stands in the middle of the "little riding school, sugar and bread in her hands, the horses are allowed in at the same time from different sides, they gallop towards their mistress, from whom they always get something good. They stop right in front of Elizabeth. One of her fond amusements is to introduce them to strangers when the horses suddenly rush in. Viewers are terrified."[2] Excerpt from the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Exhibition, left Friedrich Kaulbach: Elise Petzold on her horse Lord Byron, on the right is Wilhelm Richter (1824–1892): Queen Elizabeth in the riding hall of Gödöllő on horse Avolo, 1876. (photo: Marianna Kaján) Collection of the Royal Palace Museum of Gödöllő Her other famous circus horse "Avolo" was painted in a special way by court painter Wilhelm Richter in 1876 in the riding hall of Gödöllő: Avolo gets down on knee, with Elizabeth sitting on a side saddle, wearing a riding dress. The famous painting was donated by reader Ida Ferenczy to the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Museum in the Buda Palace in 1908, today it is in the collection of the Hungarian National Museum and is a featured artwork of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Exhibition of Gödöllő Palace. The painting will be on display at the Palace of Versailles for the occasion of the XXXIII Olympic Games from July 2 to Nov. 3, 2024 in a temporary exhibition on horseback riding  entitled "Horse in Majesty – At the Heart of a Civilisation".                                                                        Marianna Kaján, historian-museologist   Wilhelm Richter (1824–1892): Queen Elizabeth in the riding hall of Gödöllő on horse Avolo, 1876, reproduction of an oil painting, published in Egon Caesar Conte Corti's biography Elizabeth "Die Seltsame Frau", published in 1934 Collection of the Royal Palace Museum of Gödöllő   [1] The picture decorated Elizabeth's suite in Gödöllő, nowadays it can be seen in the palace, at the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Exhibition. [2] gr. Egon Cäsar Corti, Elizabeth, p. 288.

Story cube – a new educational tool

Together with the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów and the Italian non-governmental organisation Stazione Utopia, we exchange knowledge and experiences as well as train and teach how to encourage local communities gathered around museums to engage in voluntary work and how to talk about cultural, natural and historical heritage in an interesting manner. Together with our colleagues from Hungary and Italy, we have created a publicly available educational tool – the story cube that supports volunteers and educators in learning how to build a unique story, organise arguments, build independent judgments about the object or phenomenon in question, while incorporating their own stories and experiences. Activities implemented as part of the project: International Learning, Teaching, Training (LTT) meetings, during which a group of experts from Wilanów, Gödöllő and Florence selected in the programme exchanges good practice and then trains one another in areas such as working with volunteers and immigrants as well as creating an engaged community around institutions. Four meetings: two in Warsaw and two in Florence and Gödöllő, respectively, have been held during the course of the project. Transnational Project Meetings (TPMs) in each of the participating organisations help us implement our planned activities effectively. Developing an educational tool, known as the story cube. The tool supports the adult education personnel in contacting the local community and engaging it in activities related to the voluntary programme. An online seminar to discuss the experiences we have gained and disseminate the educational tool we have developed is to be held in January 2023. Writing a series of articles on informal adult education and engaging the local community in the activities of institutions. Feel free to check out the materials on the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE): Local community engagement in museum programs: practices, experiences and challenges and Też tak chcę! Story cube – a new educational tool   As part of the Erasmus+ project, “Museum of Communities”, along with our partners from the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów and the non-governmental organisation Stazione Utopia in Florence, we have created a new publicly available educational tool.The story cube supports our work with volunteers in terms of creating engaging and unique stories about museum items. We have designed not one but two cubes: senses cube, to support the process of experiencing objects through our senses; mind cube, to encourage users to think and reflect critically. Story cubes allow the users to ask questions about heritage objects and look at them in a new manner, inspiring them to learn collectively and have a discussion. The tool may be used with both beginners and advanced storytellers. Story cubes are a universal solution to be used in adult education. The project has been co-financed by the European Commission from the Erasmus+ programme supporting strategic partnerships at a European level. Projects related to education and training promote the development of knowledge in Europe and make it possible to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy – sustainable development and social inclusion. Download the detailed instructions and a graphic template for the story cubes: Erasmus+ Storycube black and white Erasmus+ Storycube color Erasmus+ Mindcube black and white Erasmus+ Mindcube color Instructions

“Saddle up Hungarians, saddle up!”

„Lóra, magyar, lóra”    (“Saddle up Hungarians, saddle up!”) Temporary exhibition   Organized through the collaboration of the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, the State Stud-farm of Mezőhegyes and the Pál Molnár-C. Memorial House with the Pál Molnár C. Studio and Museum, between July 1st and August 11th 2024. Honoring the 2024 Summer Olympics with the statues of György Vastagh Jr. and Pál Molnár-C.’s artworks and sports drawings.   Between July 1st and August 11th, under the European Royal Residences Association’s project, titled “Horsing around European courts” , the Royal Palace of Gödöllő showcases the special world of horses through the statues of György Vastagh Jr. (1868-1946) depicting the horses and animals of Mezőhegyes, through the paintings and graphics of Pál Molnár-C.’s (1894-1981). In one of the rooms of the exhibition, sports drawings inspired by the 1928 Summer Olympics can be found, that proved to be fruitful for the Hungarian contenders. Made with ink lining by Pál Molnár-C. , these were posted in the popular newspaper “Az Est” back in the day. The park of the Palace of Versailles will be transformed into a venue for equestrian sports events for the time of the multi-sport parasport events of the 2024 Summer Olympics. A monumental equestrian exhibition will be held in the Palace of Versailles. Among the exhibited artworks will be the painting of Wilhelm Richter titled “Queen Elizabeth on the horseback of Avolo” (1876, property of the Hungarian National Museum), that otherwise is a part of the permanent exhibition of the Royal Palace of Gödöllő.