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Locality: 9300 Csorna, Hungary
Client: Premonstratensian Abbey of Csorna
Area: 618 m²
Year: 2017 – 2019

Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna

The Premonstratensian Abbey of Csorna is an outstanding monument and one of the most important public buildings in Hungary. One of its wings houses the valuable local history collection of the City Museum. As part of the project, the public areas of the presbytery, which is increasingly visited by outsiders, were renovated and several historical rooms were restored. On the ground floor, all the surfaces of the vestibule of the church have been renewed and enriched with lighting worthy of its function. Next to it, in a previously unused space, we added a small café and a ticket office. The space also serves as a tourist information point. In the left wing on the ground floor, the area of the Csornai Museum was completely renovated, and the exhibition and service areas were also modernised. We designed light, functional and unobtrusive built-in and mobile furniture for the simple, cleanly designed baroque spaces.

Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
In accordance with the requirements of the Order, we have designed simple but durable equipment made from durable materials. Different variants of the furniture family are presented for different functional groups. Throughout, we have tried to emphasise the natural beauty of the building’s spaces and make them an important part of the experience. In the turn-of-the-century library, only the ornately painted ceiling remains. No information about the original form of the furnishings could be found in either the photograph or the archive plan. For the Order’s library, which also contains several thousand volumes of valuable works, we designed oak furniture with classic lines, reading tables and closed drawers.
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
On the first floor of the building, a permanent exhibition has been set up in the three former rooms of the Enfilade to illustrate the 900-year history of the Order. Divided into white, blue and gold rooms, the exhibition allows visitors to explore the theme through artefacts, interactive tools and infographics. The installation has been generated from existing artefacts and intellectual content. Polished crystals and their sockets, and the spatial system created between them, lead the visitor from lexical information to the innermost message. The view is defined by white and gold surfaces and glass of varying transparency. The carriers of the content are arranged in space by different forces, sometimes randomly, sometimes regularly condensed.
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna

In the white room, the visitor wanders among the irregular and randomly arranged installations and learns about the basics of the Order in an informal way. The history of the building, the architectural features of the Order and the economic activities are presented on the symmetrically arranged table displays in the blue room. The Golden Room focuses on the Order’s intellectual pillars and spirituality, through installations that condense into a regular core and contain important artefacts.

Premonstratensian Abbey – Csorna
architecture,
interior design,
installations: Csaba Balogh, Ágnes Deigner, Levente Sirokai, Péter Sónicz
architectural associate: Krisztina Ancza, Zsófia Domborovszky, Kata Iván, Soma Pádár, Herta Pászli, Lilla Pusztai, Dániel Szitka, Ági Vértesy
structural engineering: Zoltán V.Nagy  |  Lapidárium Mérnöki Kft.
mechanical engineering: Attila Lucz  |  HVArC  Mérnöki Iroda Kft.
electrical engineering: Judit Balázs  |  Artvill Mérnökiroda Kft.
curators: Natália Morva-Simon, Zsolt Virág  |  Magyar Kastélyprogram Kft.
graphics: Emese Kontár, Annamária Rádi  |  Pazirik Kft.
photography: Krisztina Ancza, Levente Sirokai