Matthias Fountain

Description

The fountain’s bronze figures form a hunting party under King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. They stand on piled rocks in front of the northern wall of the old Castle Church, with water trickling through the boulder cracks. The scene’s dramatic staging recalls Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain, though it is much smaller. Behind it, the grand facade is framed by two sets of giant Corinthian columns.

The original top balustrade and Mansard roof were more ornate, but after World War II damage they were made simpler. A central niche shaped like a triumphal arch displays King Matthias’ personal coat of arms. The niche’s Art Nouveau tree-like decoration contrasts with the fountain’s more conventional style, and its surface has a plain gold mosaic. At the highest rock, King Matthias stands in hunting clothes, holding a crossbow in his right hand, with a large dead stag at his feet.

On lower rocks, a henchman blows a horn, and the hunting group’s leader sits on a boulder with his back to the viewer. Three hounds complete the main cluster. Two more bronze figures sit on separate bases at the basin’s sides, linked to the central group by looks and gestures. On the right is Szép Ilonka, or Helen the Fair, from a well-known 19th-century ballad by Mihály Vörösmarty.

In the story, she and Matthias fell in love while he hunted in disguise; when she discovered his true identity and thought their love hopeless, she died of a broken heart. She gazes toward the king, shielding her tame fawn from the hunters. On the left is the Italian chronicler Galeotto Marzio, who lived at Matthias’ court. A sighthound rests at his feet, and a falcon sits on his left fist.

History

The fountain was erected by sculptor Alajos Stróbl and Alajos Hauszmann, master builder of the reconstruction of the Royal Palace. After the composition scheme was approved by King Franz Joseph, Stróbl began work in 1899. The figure of the henchman won a state gold medal in 1901. The stag was modelled after a majestic animal killed in 1896 by poachers in the forest where Stróbl went hunting. The models for the hounds were sent by duke Pálffy to the sculptor. The fountain was inaugurated in the presence of the king in 1904. During the Second World War the middle dog sculpture was destroyed but was reconstructed by Jenő Grantner. Matthias Fountain was restored in 2010.