URANIA HUNGARIAN SCIENTIFIC THEATRE
Non-School Based Public Education
Exhibition in the Theatre History Collection
April 28, 2004 – September, 2006
A
special undertaking was launched in Budapest in 1899 when the Uránia Magyar
Tudományos Színház (Urania Hungarian Scientific Theatre) began its presentations
illustrated by still pictures and later by moving pictures, the new invention
of the turn of the century. Following foreign models that were opened under
the same name in Berlin and Vienna the new venue rented by the Urania Scientific
Society completed its scientific and educational tasks for seventeen years with
the participation of excellent scientists and eminent experts of the age.
The place was important for the history of cinema as well; the first non-newsreel Hungarian film, A tánc (Dance) directed by Béla Zitkovszky, was made here in 1901. The film of 24 episodes was created to illustrate a lecture on dancing given by the well-known writer and politician, Gyula Pekár. It was shot on the roof terrace of the Urania and featured stage stars of the period in short sketches introducing various pieces of dance history. The lecture and film raised great interest and the programme was repeated for several times. Due to its exceptional success the occasional filmmaking continued in the Urania and Zitkovszky shot several films to illustrate other lectures.
A unique photo album of the Theatre History Collection can be seen on display introducing pictures of the film Dance, where famous actresses are shown like Lujza Blaha dancing csárdás and Sári Fedák dancing a Japanese geta-dance. Unfortunately the film was destroyed in a fire. The building itself, which was originally created for a music and dance hall, finally was opened as a cabaret in 1893. Soon it became the ’scientific theatre’ serving educational purposes, later on the institution was functioning as a cinema for over 100 years.
Curator: Domokos
Dániel Kis
