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I gave a lecture about panoramic photography. I was invited to give a workshop at the
Urban 3D Modelling International Summer School. The study area was the historical town
center of Székesfehérvár (Alba Regia), the town where Hungarian kings were crowned.
During the summer school students could take part in keynote lectures, practical hands-on
exercises and fieldwork.

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For more info about the Summer School visit it’s website at http://www.geo.info.hu/urban3d/

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The Basilica commissioned by the first Hungarian King St Stephen served
as the coronation church and royal burial site. What remains of it, including
the memorial displaying St Stephen’s sarcophagus, has become a national shrine.

The garden ruins where the remnants of the basilica, its masonry, and
St Stephen’s sarcophagus are on display, were prepared in 1938 for the
900th anniversary of St Stephen’s death.

A mausoleum and masonry museum designed by Géza Lux were erected for
the sarcophagus. Its external walls are decorated with fine relief work by
Walter Madarassy, the stained glass windows were painted by Mrs Árkay
née Lili Sztehlo, and the walls bear a historical secco by Vilmos Aba Novák.

Extremely dense yet with a striking and expressive structure, Novák’s
composition begins with the baptism of Vajk (Stephen’s pagan name) and
with the story of the Holy Crown. Also featured on the walls: St Stephen’s
coronation, the legend of the holy right hand of St Stephen, the kings and
outstanding figures of Hungarian history, together with public personalities
representing the various eras, among them the governor Miklós Horthy, and
in the figure of Anonymous (the medieval anonymous notary who recorded
the history of the Hungarians) wearing his hooded cloak, the then Minister
of Education was displayed.

The secco created in 1942 was limewashed in the early 1950’s to conceal
the figure of Miklós Horthy whom the Communists despised. This, however,
protected the artwork from the rigours of the weather. In the early 1990’s,
it was restored and placed under protection.

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This was also one of the panoramas we’ve stitched during the workshop.

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Located in the historic centre of Székesfehérvár, the Hiemer House,
called the “jewel of the downtown”, is one of the major monuments
of the royal town. Different kinds of architectural styles appear on
the House. The baroque, gothic and neo-classic style ornaments make
the building a unique monument. You can have a refreshment in the
coffee bar or in the wine cellar, also located in the building.

The buildings of the building complex are protected historic buildings
listed in the List of National Heritage. The baroque-rococo main façade
is one of the most spectacular elements of the city’s main square.
The investigation of the building complex has discovered that the buildings
of the complex were rebuilt between the XV-XVIII century and they had
been rebuilt several times. They won their present aspects around the
XVIII the century.

The Hiemer house was originally built for dwelling purposes but during
the centuries its part at Jókai street 1 served as a parsonage too.
The block at Jókai street 3 gave place for the music school of the city
for decades.

The Font house – at its present address Oskola street 2 – was partly
built for a school partly as stores, while the Caraffa building at Oskola street
4 was also built as a school, stores and flats.

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This building belongs to the engineer department.
It was built around 1970, as the last component of the building complex.
Before it there is a pool with a fountain, but unfortunately it has
only rarely water in it.

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It’s been a long time since I published my last panorama here,
but I was very busy. The next WWP event is coming, and I didn’t
even published my submission from december. Unfortunately I missed
the autumn event, the theme was colours. I had the idea of a large
colorful theme park, but had flu and didn’t want to go out in the cold.

Anyway, this one is from march 2008, so it is one year old. I remember
those days, the wind blowed very heavy, all the internal shots were done
long ago, I missed only some external panoramas around the university to
make the virtual tour ready.
Alas it was not a good choice to shoot the outdoor scenes in march,
you cannot see the beautiful flora around the university surroundings.

This panorama was taken at the main dormitory of the Szent Istvan Egyetem,
the second, newly built one will be the subject of my next upload.

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The long awaited new cultural institution of Budapest and Hungary, the Palace of Arts, was opened in 2005. (Then palace is so newly built that it even can’t be found at googlemaps – notice the picture of the construction site below.) This was one of the most prestigious celebrations of the past hundred years in Hungary’s cultural history, since this conglomeration of cultural buildings has no precedent in 20th century Hungarian architecture. The investment took place in the form of a “Public Private Partnership”, in a co-operation between the Ministry of National Heritage and Trigránit Development Corporation. The principal contractor, Arcadom Construction Ltd and the planning Zoboki, Demeter and Partners Architectural Office, developed the institution’s programmes and details in collaboration with numerous associate planners and specialist consultants.

There are few cultural institutions in Europe that can boast the ISO quality certification (for example, the twenty year old Pompidou Centre in Paris only launched its application in 2004 before finally obtaining the ISO 9001:2000 version). In the year of its inauguration, 2005, the Palace of Arts, initiated the detailed examination process and after continuous inspection, in 2006 was awarded the latest version of the certification, the ISO 9001:2000, ahead of the Pompidou Centre.

About the making of the panorama:

On the way on the bus to the capital at around 6am

The idea of that panorama came to me about two months ago. I work at the other side of the bridge, at a newly built IT center, and walk every morning and evening across that bridge. At the evening the Palace of Arts looks very shiny and compelling, and I thought that at 7am it will be an amazing location for my wrinkle tribute panorama.

Unfortunately it had no floodlight in the morning, and the wheather was foggy too so the other lights on the other side of the Danube river couldn’t be seen too. Above all it was extremely cold too by that time (at least for wheather it used to locally), and I didn’t have any gloves with me. I could hardly managed this panorama, but it worth for it.

The position of the sun at the winter solstice

And another note: Yes, the local time at the moment the first picture was taken was 7:08am which is 06:08 UTC. It was a real challenge to wake up at 4:30am, and to wait about 15 minutes for that minute at that wheather conditions.

And why the Yin Yang (or Tai-Chi) symbol at the nadir? I searched for a nadir cap that has something to do with the solstice. It has.

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The ex-residence of the Podmaniczky family resides in Aszód, a small historical town located 50 km east from Budapest. The building was started at 7. Mai 1727, and it reached its current shape in 1772.

Aerial view of the Podmaniczky palace

The ceiling of the ceremonial room of the Baroque Podmaniczky palace, situated on the first floor of one of the corner pavilions, is covered entirely by a Baroque-style allegoric painting made by Lukács Kracker.

The baroque fresco at the top of the left corner pavilion

The single-storey central section oriented towards the former Palace Square is the oldest wing. The two-storey wing pointing inside was designed by József Jung and built between 1767 and 1772. Making the best use of the landscape the first storey windows were aligned with the row of windows in the central wing. József Jung enlarged the ends of both wings into corner pavilions with mansard roofs. In front of the central section of the palace is an intricately formed terrace. The window is ornamented with a stepped arched dripstone. Above the central opening the family coats-of-arms are depicted. The side facade, too, has been richly decorated. Pillars with Ionic capitals lend structure to the rounded corner pavilions.

Interior of the palace

The largest room of the Sándor wing is the ceremonial hall on the first floor. Its ceiling is entirely covered by János Kracker’s large wall painting titled The triumph of virtues (Az erények diadala, 1776). Allegoric figures personify virtues such as faith and love, amongst them figures from mythology. Large sections of the sidewalls have been grisaille-painted and are adorned with herms, vases, and painted sculptures.

The relocated gateway to be seen in the garden of the old palace used to be the entrance to an independent botanical garden next to the palace. The Podmaniczky family lived here until 1870. From 1880 until the 1950’s, a Lutheran girls’ school functioned in the building which presently serves as a dormitory and as a public archive.

The lutheran girlschool

The main square of Aszod with the Podmaniczky palace in the background

Nowadays this residence is abandoned, and you must have the permissions to get in. The owner of the palace is unknown to me, but there is a company called Aszód Castle Ltd, whose goal is to restore the castle and turn it to a 6-star full service luxury hotel with conference facilities, wellness spa, and a 27-hole golf course. But these are only future plans, it sure will need a lot of money to make these plans real…

…and the future.

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As you can see, the wall is teared down at the corner,
because the work is not finished yet. At the right side of
the coffee machine there is the entrance of the library.
I will show you our library in the next published panoramas.

At the left side of the Coke machine it is a fake door, used
only in the old times when the room of the current library served
as a dining room. If you go through the door left of these,
you get outside to the courtyard.

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