Gyula Istvánfi’s half-century-long career as an educator, architect, researcher, and writer is deeply rooted in the fields of architectural history and heritage preservation. Throughout nearly his entire professional life, his workplace was the Department of History of Architecture and Monument Preservation at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). (Earlier, it was known as the Department of Architectural History, and between 1972 and 1996 as the Institute of Architectural History and Theory.)
Beginning as a lecturer in 1962, he became an assistant in 1964, a senior assistant in 1972, an associate professor in 1986, a full professor in 1996, and since his retirement in 2010, he has continued teaching as professor emeritus. Over these decades, he has educated generations of architecture students in the fields of Hungarian vernacular architecture and ancient architectural history.
He started his teaching career as a seminar leader for architectural history courses. Under the mentorship of his colleague Gyula Hajnóczi (1920–1996), he began focusing on the ancient Near East, and after 1975 he became lecturer of Ancient Architectural History – first in the evening courses, then, from 1986 onward, also in the daytime program. Hajnóczi’s textbook Az építészet története. Ókor (The History of Architecture: Antiquity, Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 1967), featuring 350 illustrations drawn by Istvánfi, introduced students to the morphology and monuments of ancient architecture through his characteristically precise and elegant drawings.
In addition to antiquity, Hungarian folk architecture soon became his central research and teaching focus. He played a pioneering role in this field by launching, in 1984, the introductory first-year course Az építészet kezdetei (The Beginnings of Architecture), which covers in a more concise manner prehistoric which covers prehistoric architecture in a more concise manner and vernacular Hungarian architecture in more detail. He authored the corresponding textbook – Az építészet története I. Őskor, Népi építészet (The History of Architecture I. Prehistoric and Vernacular Architecture, Budapest, 1997) – and drew all 175 illustrations himself. His later book, Az építészet kezdetei (Terc, Budapest, 2010), summarizes the insights and reflections accumulated over decades of teaching ancient and prehistoric architectural history. The elegantly produced volume is richly accompanied by his own line drawings, diagrams, and watercolour illustrations.
In 2001, he introduced the elective course Faluépítészet (Village Architecture), which focuses on the environmental and architectural value analysis of rural settlements and issues of restoration. The subject also features in the Department’s postgraduate Heritage Conservation Engineering program.
Istvánfi’s contributions to monument surveying and to the teaching of surveying methods are equally outstanding. Even as a student, he participated in surveys under the guidance of his professors László Vargha (1904–1984) and Gyula Hajnóczi, whom he regarded as his masters. The organized teaching of surveying to architecture students – the establishment of field camps where students could learn surveying techniques in practice – was his own innovation. From 1981 for fifteen consecutive years, he organized and led the second-year summer survey camps of the Faculty of Architecture. During these, students surveyed and documented the urban layouts, streetscapes, and buildings of numerous Hungarian towns including Kalocsa, Baja, Gyula, Zalaegerszeg, Kőszeg, Gyöngyös, Sárospatak, Kaposvár, Siklós, Keszthely, Szigetvár, Szécsény, Nyíregyháza, Szepsi, Tata, Tállya, Komárom (Monostor Fortress), Dunaföldvár, Bonyhád, Paks, and Majos. After 1995, these large-scale field surveys were discontinued due to increasing costs and growing student numbers, yet the collected drawings continue to serve as valuable documentation.
Istvánfi also carried out monument surveys beyond Hungary’s borders, seeking to help preserve endangered Hungarian architectural heritage in Transylvania. Together with local colleagues, he organized volunteer field camps for architecture students under the title Veszendő templomaink felmérése (Surveying Our Endangered Churches). The project resulted in the professional documentation of more than a hundred Roman Catholic, Reformed, and Unitarian churches, later published in two volumes:
– Veszendő templomaink I. Erdélyi református templomok (Our Endangered Churches I. Reformed Churches of Transylvania), Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 2001.
– Veszendő templomaink II. Erdélyi római katolikus templomok (Our Endangered Churches II. Roman Catholic Churches of Transylvania), co-author András Veöreös, Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 2002.
Between 1980 and 1990, in cooperation with the National Inspectorate of Monuments, he organized and conducted the fourth-year student practice in monument surveying and reuse, during which hundreds of castles, mansions, and estate buildings were documented across the country. These survey records later became a foundation for several national castle restoration programs.
From the beginning of his academic career, Istvánfi also taught architectural design, supervising diploma projects. In line with the Department’s profile, these designs typically dealt with the restoration of historic buildings or new constructions within heritage contexts.
Among Gyula Istvánfi’s educational activities, his supervision of student research work – based on personal consultation – holds a particularly important place. His work as a TDK (Scientific Student Conference) advisor resulted in 15–20 successful papers. His achievements were recognized with several awards: in 1994 he received the Plaque for Scientific Student Work from the Budapest University of Technology (BME), and in 1998 the Knowledge for Hungary Memorial Plaque from the National Association for Student Research.
Between 1989 and 2003 he served in leadership positions at the Department. As a thoughtful and fair leader, he ensured continued engagement for retired staff – maintaining their departmental ties, employing them, or granting them emeritus status – while also successfully rejuvenating the Department with talented young colleagues, many of whom were his own former students and who have since earned PhD degrees. Guiding young researchers as they integrated into the field, he consistently encouraged the study of domestic topics, especially analyses based on architectural surveys, rather than the previously more common foreign or universal subjects. Thanks largely to him, every member of the Department’s younger generation became a dedicated researcher of some area of Hungarian architectural history.
His success as a PhD supervisor is demonstrated by the fact that several of his doctoral students – Ágnes Gyetvainé Balogh (2003), Péter Rabb (2006), András Veöreös, and Csaba J. Fekete (2007) – all completed their research and earned their PhD degree with excellent results.
Major Works
In addition to his teaching, architectural history played a central role in his design practice as well, and numerous heritage restorations are associated with his name. His projects always rested on rigorous historical research and documentation, emphasizing the fullest possible preservation of architectural values. His reconstructions combined careful and authentic conservation with indicative representation. The range of his restoration techniques extended from high-quality renovation to complete reconstruction.
Early in his career, together with Gyula Hajnóczi, he designed the presentation of Roman ruins at several sites in Pannonia. Their joint work at the Aquincum Museum and archaeological park (1967–1972) included the restoration of the Bath with the wrestlers’ mosaic, the museum’s exhibitions, the basilica and palaestra, the new ticket office, the forum, several residential buildings, and the third public bath. Between 1967 and 1972 they also designed the presentation at Tác (Gorsium) of the remains of the Nymphaea, the Basilica Maior, the row of shops, and the medieval church.
Thanks to surveys carried out with László Vargha while still a student, Istvánfi received commissions in the 1970s to design relocation plans for several buildings of the newly founded Hungarian Open Air Museum (Skanzen) at Szentendre. Among these were the houses from Völcsej (1973) and Markotabödöge (1974), the belfry from Felsőszenterzsébet, and the Kondorfa dwelling (1978).
His first major independent work was the heritage restoration plan for the Hermitage of Pusztazámor (1974), though the actual restoration began only in 1992. Built in the mid-18th century on the foundations of a medieval village church, the Baroque hermitage was burned out during World War II and had fallen into ruin. By 1992 its vaults had collapsed, and the structure was on the verge of destruction. A full reconstruction was carried out based on surviving structures and historical photographs, including new floors, doors and windows, mechanical systems, and furnishings. The restored chapel and residential quarters were consecrated in 1994, and in 1995 Istvánfi received the Pusztazámor Medal for the heritage restoration of the Hermitage.
One of his most significant realized projects was the Vésztő–Mágorhalom Historical Memorial Site (also known as Mágorpuszta, located within the Körös–Maros National Park). Here, he designed and executed a complex presentation of several historical periods at a high professional level. The double Neolithic mound, rising above the Sárrét plain, contains archaeological layers spanning six millennia; later, in the 10th–12th centuries, the Csolt family built a monastery atop it, and in the early 19th century, the Wenkheim estate’s vast wine cellar was excavated into one of the mounds. Istvánfi prepared the monument study in 1976 and the restoration plan in 1977; the complex was built between 1979 and 1988, the sculpture park was completed in 1985, and the prehistoric exhibition space – the so-called “archaeological crypt” – in 1986. The reconstructed church and monastery walls, executed with stone-and-brick structures and protective roofs, were designed to evoke their original form. The wine cellar was converted into an exhibition on the site’s history and excavations. On the northern mound, archaeologists (Irén Juhász, Katalin Hegedűs) excavated prehistoric cultural layers (Early Neolithic, Copper, and Bronze Age) to a depth of seven meters. Above the excavation trench, within the mound, the reinforced concrete “archaeological crypt” was built (archaeologist: János Makkay; structural engineer: Ferenc Vámossy). The surrounding landscape, representing the cultural and ecological world of the Sárrét region, inspired the creation of a Pantheon of regional writers, along with a pákász ( fisherman’s) hut and livestock enclosure. Later, a reception building was added. For the design of this memorial site, the Békés County Council nominated Istvánfi for, and he received, the Medal for Socialist Culture in 1985.
Another notable restoration associated with his name is that of the medieval church at Kehida (Zala County), now known as St. Nicholas Cemetery Chapel (1975). The work began in 1974 with the restoration of the 19th-century Deák-crypt beneath the nave, containing the graves of Ferenc Deák’s ancestors. The chapel underwent further renovation in 2000.
Among his 1970s Budapest projects were the design of the National Museum Treasury (1975), the restoration of the Wünsch Bridge of the Millennium Underground Railway in City Park (1976), and the presentation of Roman ruins in Óbuda (1976–77). He also restored the Serbian Orthodox Belgrade-Cathedral in Szentendre in 1977.
During the 1980s, he worked on the reconstruction of the Millennium Underground Railway (Kisföldalatti). He designed the architectural layout of the Bajza Street station (1987) and the Kodály Körönd and Vörösmarty Street stations (1988). The 1987 design for the reconstruction of the Bruggeman entrance hall also belongs to this project, although it was never built.
During his tenure as department head in the 1990s and 2000s, his most important works were major Budapest heritage restorations designed and realized with departmental colleagues. These include the reconstruction of the pedestal of the St. Stephen Monument at Fisherman’s Bastion (1996–97; collaborators: Miklós Kalmár, László Daragó, Ágnes Gyetvainé Balogh, Péter Rabb, Ferenc Sebestény); the second phase of the Millennium Monument restoration at Heroes’ Square – the two colonnades (1998–2002; collaborators: Miklós Kalmár, Ágnes Gyetvainé Balogh, Tamás Mezős, Péter Rabb); the reconstruction of the Danubius Fountain at Erzsébet Square (2000; collaborators: Miklós Kalmár, Ágnes Gyetvainé Balogh, Tamás Mezős, Péter Rabb); and the restoration of the Holy Trinity Monument at Szentháromság Square in Buda’s First District (2005–2007; collaborators: Miklós Kalmár, Tamás Mezős, Péter Rabb).
In 2001–2002, he completed the theoretical reconstruction of the Ptolemaic temple precinct at Taposiris Magna (Egypt), published as “Reconstruction of the Sanctuary 2001–2002” in Győző Vörös: Taposiris Magna 1998–2004 (Budapest, 2004, pp. 70–90).
For his outstanding work in heritage preservation, cultural value conservation, and his high-level teaching career, he received multiple honors: the Excellence in Work Award (1983), the Forster Gyula Award (2000), the Ybl Miklós Award from the Association of Hungarian Architects (2001), the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (2008), the Jenő Rados Memorial Medal (2009), and in 2011 the Széchenyi Prize “in recognition of more than four decades of teaching, his research of school-forming significance in universal, Hungarian, and vernacular architectural history, and his efforts in documenting and restoring Hungarian monuments beyond the borders.”
[Written in 2013]