M1 — Meselo cegtablak
20260920 153500 UTC
361 transcript segments
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:02:38] and technique, the
[00:03:30] The national archive
[00:04:22] As strange as it may seem, these idyllic pictures were taken in a factory
[00:04:25] area, serving as the backdrop for the life of a large
[00:04:29] industrial family. Every corner evokes the activity
[00:04:32] that took place within these walls. The
[00:04:36] family worked and lived here on the factory grounds from the
[00:04:40] 1860s, when the small manufactory began to
[00:04:43] grow.
[00:04:47] Everything was different for us than in other families. Our beautiful
[00:04:51] reception room bore the marks of my father's
[00:04:55] individuality. The entire house was decorated with expertise
[00:04:58] and good taste.
[00:05:02] Teréz's words about her childhood are illustrated by the memorial
[00:05:06] room set up in the museum, as well as her father's portrait,
[00:05:09] painted on ceramic by Bertalan Székely. Vilmos Zsolnay, the one who
[00:05:13] almost single-handedly forged
[00:05:14] his empire.
[00:05:22] It is my intention to establish a factory
[00:05:25] on the site of my well-known Pécs pottery workshop
[00:05:28] and commercial nursery that will
[00:05:31] meet all modern requirements
[00:05:35] in every respect. I am convinced that the city
[00:05:39] council will gladly welcome any initiative that
[00:05:42] promotes industrial development and thus
[00:05:45] ensures prosperity. I only wish
[00:05:48] to note that my fireproof products may be needed
[00:05:52] by any factory or workshop that uses
[00:05:55] kilns. The factory will also be of public
[00:05:59] benefit because it will employ a significant number of
[00:06:02] workers, thus helping
[00:06:04] many in need.
[00:06:16] It took a lot of work for the factory to grow into such a large
[00:06:20] enterprise over time. Initially, most of the porcelain
[00:06:23] objects were made following rural prototypes. In the
[00:06:26] 1870s, peasant pottery workshops produced the
[00:06:30] chosen pieces. At that time, ethnographic
[00:06:34] collecting became fashionable, and such jugs and pitchers
[00:06:37] found their way into bourgeois homes. The Zsolnay family adopted
[00:06:40] the forms, stylized the objects with which they
[00:06:44] achieved their first
[00:06:45] successes.
[00:06:49] At the Vienna World Exhibition, Emperor Franz Joseph also noticed
[00:06:53] the masterpieces, so the king even visited
[00:06:56] the factory. The Paris World Exhibition
[00:06:58] in 1878 finally opened the doors
[00:07:01] to foreign countries. Our father calmly accepted the
[00:07:05] gold medal he had earned with his work. The French
[00:07:08] Legion of Honor, however, brought him great joy.
[00:07:11] His pride, not vanity, but rather the feeling
[00:07:15] of triumph, intensified after many years of hard struggle
[00:07:18] among people who did not believe in his enterprise,
[00:07:21] ridiculed him, and finally received
[00:07:24] full recognition
[00:07:25] worldwide.
[00:07:32] Urn vases, once popular figures, were made for wealthy
[00:07:36] customers at home and abroad, and these are just
[00:07:39] a few examples from the museum garden.
[00:07:48] In form, style,
[00:07:51] repertoire expanded, and the wealthy clientele
[00:07:54] greatly favored these historicizing pieces. Initially,
[00:07:57] somber-toned paintings were followed by more brilliant ones.
[00:08:01] Vilmos persistently perfected the majolica
[00:08:03] glaze to make it suitable for artistic
[00:08:06] painting.
[00:08:13] These images depict the Art Nouveau period of the
[00:08:16] Zsolnay factory. The metallic-sheen vases, made
[00:08:19] by hand, were accessories in wealthy bourgeois
[00:08:22] homes. Other ornate items went to
[00:08:26] noble homes. This dinnerware set was made
[00:08:29] for the German
[00:08:30] Hoenloe family.
[00:08:35] Unique creations and series products, whose
[00:08:38] memory was preserved in the factory books called "Fazon and Decor books".
[00:08:44] Nicknacks intended for petty bourgeois homes from over 100 years
[00:08:47] of production, objects that once adorned dining
[00:08:50] tables. The Viennese merchant Wallis made a good
[00:08:53] deal, becoming the exclusive distributor of Zsolnay
[00:08:56] in Austria. A depot also opened on Váci
[00:08:59] Street. Nevertheless, by the end of the last century, 80%
[00:09:02] of production went abroad with the five-towered trademark
[00:09:06] that evoked
[00:09:07] Pécs.
[00:09:17] The most beautiful buildings in the city bear the hallmark of the Zsolnay family,
[00:09:21] such as the former Pécs Savings Bank in Széchenyi Square.
[00:09:24] Zsolnay first appeared before the world at the Vienna Exhibition
[00:09:28] with architectural ceramics. He painstakingly experimented
[00:09:32] to develop a majolica glazed tile that was resistant to
[00:09:36] weather, and in Pécs we can see more and more beautiful
[00:09:38] variations of it.
[00:09:44] In the city, György Vasvári, a wealthy iron merchant, was the biggest
[00:09:47] customer of the factory's products. His villa
[00:09:50] is adorned with magnificent Zsolnay ceramics here
[00:09:53] above Pécs. Just like Mr. Sipőc's still operating
[00:09:57] pharmacy here in the heart of the city.
[00:10:09] The Black Man's Pharmacy was designed by Vilmos's nephew, Gyula Zsolnay.
[00:10:13] Here, the objects serve not only beauty but also practical
[00:10:16] function.
[00:10:28] The ornamental fountain was donated to the city
[00:10:31] by Vilmos's son, Miklós. The animal figures were modeled
[00:10:34] after the famous golden vessels found in Nagyszentmiklós.
[00:10:38] Its designer was the Pécs architect Andor
[00:10:40] Pilty.
[00:10:46] The Ottoman world may be long gone from Pécs, but the factory
[00:10:50] brought Turkish-Oriental objects into fashion as well,
[00:10:54] openwork pieces imitating metalware.
[00:10:59] Through their travels and purchases, the Zsolnay family was open
[00:11:02] to foreign forms. The jug
[00:11:05] evokes Greece, these motifs on a beautiful
[00:11:09] piece from the primeval forest series, and the rich
[00:11:12] factory museum is now only a photograph that captures
[00:11:16] their famous oriental collection throughout
[00:11:18] Europe. The Persian-patterned jug was made
[00:11:22] in the late 90s with the famous glaze whose
[00:11:25] secret competitors tried in vain to discover. The
[00:11:29] Eosin glaze, requiring special firing techniques, and meticulous
[00:11:32] painting created the factory's famous Eosin
[00:11:36] objects, with forms that were sometimes overdecorated and sometimes
[00:11:39] simpler, admired pieces at exhibitions
[00:11:43] and fairs.
[00:11:46] At a time when marketing as a concept was completely
[00:11:50] unknown, the Zsolnay family was very good at
[00:11:53] marketing. They sensed the
[00:11:56] need and started producing
[00:11:59] products that could be sold well,
[00:12:02] and for example, by developing Eosin,
[00:12:05] which is a global patent,
[00:12:08] they were able to bring a new product to the market
[00:12:12] in which they had no competitors.
[00:12:15] My great-grandfather was Vilmos Zsolnay, and Vilmos
[00:12:18] Zsolnay had three children, Teréz, Júlia
[00:12:22] and Miklós. Miklós Zsolnay studied
[00:12:25] commerce in Graz, and already
[00:12:28] at the age of 19 or 20, he represented the factory
[00:12:32] at the Paris World Exhibition, so it's wonderful how young
[00:12:35] people were already involved in the work. Teréz
[00:12:39] and Júlia Zsolnay at the age of 20-21
[00:12:42] were already designing patterns for their father
[00:12:45] in the factory. They never studied, they couldn't draw originally,
[00:12:48] and yet they were able to design these wonderful
[00:12:51] things.
[00:13:08] Teréz took care of the factory museum, and she had one of the
[00:13:11] largest ethnographic collections
[00:13:13] in the country.
[00:13:16] She married a geologist who was also involved in the
[00:13:18] family business, discovering clay mines nearby
[00:13:22] and far away.
[00:13:28] Júlia's husband, a Polish architect, Tadeusz Sikorski,
[00:13:32] designed the Mausoleum, which, at least according
[00:13:35] to the ideas of the time, was intended as the family's final resting place.
[00:13:49] On the sarcophagus, accompanied by family members, Vilmos Zsolnay
[00:13:53] offers his life's work to the goddess Minerva. It
[00:13:56] was exactly 1900 when his active life
[00:14:00] came to an end.
[00:14:06] After Vilmos Zsolnay's death, his son Miklós entered into
[00:14:09] an inheritance agreement with his two sisters,
[00:14:12] Teréz and Júlia. According to this, Miklós became
[00:14:16] the sole owner of the factory. The whole family continued
[00:14:20] to participate in the company's activities. Later, Vilmos
[00:14:23] Zsolnay's grandchildren also joined the work.
[00:14:30] The apprentice school held a significant place, as the Zsolnay family
[00:14:34] always trained their own skilled workforce.
[00:14:38] The factory complex was also an exhibition area,
[00:14:41] where the dear customer could choose everything from
[00:14:44] decorative items to building elements. Architects also visited frequently.
[00:14:48] Ödön Lechner had a good friendship with Vilmos
[00:14:51] Zsolnay. He decorated the Museum of Applied Arts,
[00:14:55] which he designed, and a host of other buildings in the country
[00:14:58] with ceramics ordered
[00:14:59] from the Zsolnay factory.
[00:15:09] For the Geological Institute's palace on Stefánia Road,
[00:15:13] special decorative elements and a huge quantity of
[00:15:17] majolica tiles were needed. Only the blue of the sky can
[00:15:20] compete with the azurite blue color of the Pyrogranite
[00:15:23] chimneys and the entire roof.
[00:15:36] My companions on the moon.
[00:16:00] Starting from the Parliament building, we could list many
[00:16:03] famous buildings adorned with Zsolnay's
[00:16:05] works. Vilmos was not only
[00:16:09] friends with architects, renowned painters
[00:16:12] worked in his factory. Ármin Klein often
[00:16:15] created classical, sometimes Hungarian-style figures,
[00:16:19] some of which remain distinctive
[00:16:21] motifs to this day.
[00:16:27] Ripple Ronai, who, among others, designed a dinner set for
[00:16:31] Count Andrássy, also spent a longer
[00:16:33] time here. The ceramic paintings were
[00:16:37] famous, which could compete with the most nuanced oil paintings. Their true
[00:16:41] colors unfolded in the depths of the kiln during
[00:16:44] firing.
[00:16:50] The sculptor Miklós Ligeti also had a close connection
[00:16:54] with the Zsolnay house. According to his plans,
[00:16:58] sculptures and all ceramic decorations and tiles
[00:17:01] were used in the thermal
[00:17:03] bath of the former Szent Gellért Hotel.
[00:17:16] Among the clients in the construction boom at the end of the century
[00:17:19] were many aspiring industrialists and entrepreneurs,
[00:17:23] who, like Vilmos, built their reputation and
[00:17:26] wealth with diligent work.
[00:17:29] Such was the champagne producer József Törley, who is greeted
[00:17:32] with champagne by his followers in the former hall of his
[00:17:36] factory, Zsolnay's tile picture.
[00:17:45] This house, which later became known as the Arizona
[00:17:48] cabaret, belonged to a famous photographer, Manó Mai.
[00:17:52] The builder couldn't give up, all the ceramics for
[00:17:55] the house were ordered from Zsolnay.
[00:18:08] The domed elephant house truly became a symbol of
[00:18:11] the Pest Zoo, when the garden, which had struggled
[00:18:15] with lack of funds for a long time, was built in its present
[00:18:18] form, the company sold the covering tiles at a great discount for the thick-skinned inhabitants.
[00:18:33] In Pécs, or in Zsolnay's Budapest architectural office,
[00:18:37] everyone could choose from the mass-produced elements.
[00:18:40] For the largest, often state-commissioned projects,
[00:18:43] almost every detail was
[00:18:45] custom-made.
[00:18:49] Town Hall in Kecskemét, with the well-known majolica
[00:18:51] cladding, and in Kiskunfélegyháza, where
[00:18:55] the Hungarian ornamentation virtually covers
[00:18:57] the facade.
[00:19:04] After World War I, the Zsolnay family not only
[00:19:07] lost their clay mines, but in the worse economic
[00:19:11] situation, their customer base also dwindled. Artistic
[00:19:15] ceramics were mostly created towards the end of the 1940s. Meanwhile,
[00:19:18] commercial porcelain was made for display cases, and industrial
[00:19:22] goods, such as porcelain insulators, had been a significant
[00:19:38] This orphaned factory initially operated as a subsidiary
[00:19:40] of the Pécs Zsolnay company. The Budapest
[00:19:43] company's goal, according to the foundation, was primarily
[00:19:47] the production and sale of wall cladding
[00:19:49] faience sheets.
[00:19:53] Family records already mentioned that in '85,
[00:19:57] Zsolnay Virmos wanted to establish a factory in Pest.
[00:19:59] In '42, when they started to expand the Pest
[00:20:02] factory, I also had to go to the
[00:20:06] Pest factory, and there, I didn't supervise the construction,
[00:20:09] but I had to assist with material procurement, and the main
[00:20:13] goal was to get to know the equipment, the new equipment
[00:20:17] that was being built, because at that time, the tunnel kiln
[00:20:20] was still a novelty, and right up until the nationalization,
[00:20:23] I was involved in this construction.
[00:20:27] On Good Friday, I went to the factory to finish my work,
[00:20:31] and they told me that it had been nationalized.
[00:20:34] Then I had to plan the
[00:20:37] internal work for its completion.
[00:20:40] After that, the moment the kiln was finished,
[00:20:43] I received my
[00:20:44] dismissal notice.
[00:20:54] Recently, the machines stopped at the Budapest porcelain
[00:20:57] factory, which could not compete with the flood
[00:21:00] of imports, and is waiting for a new owner, or perhaps
[00:21:04] demolition.
[00:21:14] Until the nationalization of the Pécs factory, production was
[00:21:17] almost equally divided between insulators and tableware manufacturing.
[00:21:21] "In the era of large plan fulfillments, which of
[00:21:24] course was the death of artistic work, industrial porcelain
[00:21:28] became dominant. It seemed
[00:21:30] that the famous Zsolnay ceramics were doomed.
[00:21:38] Nowadays, white porcelain, i.e., tableware for households,
[00:21:42] represents a quarter of production. Another quarter consists of
[00:21:46] decorative items, which are nowhere near as popular as they once were.
[00:21:54] "The old techniques, gilding, the Eosin, which our great
[00:21:58] predecessors worked on so much, were long condemned
[00:22:01] to oblivion, and thus it is not easy
[00:22:14] What would Vilmos Zsolnay say to the factory's current
[00:22:18] showroom, which presents of the new
[00:22:21] produce? We don't know. There are a few timeless
[00:22:24] pieces among them, they are the great survivors, like the
[00:22:28] shepherd, who has been sad for decades.
[00:22:36] In the Zsolnay Museum's warehouse, witnesses of various
[00:22:40] eras line the shelves. This is a real historical
[00:22:44] tableau, whose characters at one time were deemed
[00:22:47] suitable for pouring into porcelain.
[00:23:00] The Pécs factory complex, this unique industrial historical
[00:23:03] treasure, is now under monument protection
[00:23:07] after extensive intervention by the descendants,
[00:23:10] a faithful mirror of the
[00:23:12] past and a distorted mirror of the present.
[00:23:21] The Mausoleum was intended for eternity,
[00:23:24] but the grave robbers thought
[00:23:26] otherwise. Vilmos's sarcophagus, however, proved
[00:23:30] too strong, they could not
[00:23:31] break it open.
[00:23:35] Anyone could take a small piece of material from the fence,
[00:23:39] which the new director allowed after nationalization. Fortunately,
[00:23:43] the factory garden remained
[00:23:44] and survived everything, including the factory itself.
[00:23:50] This nearly 150-year-old factory has a very
[00:23:53] sad fate. The situation is that the problems started
[00:23:57] when its independence was abolished and it became
[00:24:00] one of the factories of the so-called Fine Ceramic Industrial
[00:24:04] Works. It didn't have to sell, only produce. The film
[00:24:08] sold everything. A market-oriented mindset didn't
[00:24:12] develop. In addition, its
[00:24:14] technology is completely outdated.
[00:24:17] Porcelain is fired in kilns built in 1950,
[00:24:21] sometimes without much success. So, on
[00:24:24] one side, there's a
[00:24:27] technological crash, so to speak. On the other
[00:24:31] side, the state, as owner, doesn't help
[00:24:34] the factory. Now, the era of Münchausen
[00:24:37] is over, at least in economic life. This company
[00:24:41] cannot pull itself out of the rut by its own
[00:24:44] bootstraps. 300-400 million Forints would be needed
[00:24:48] to repay its debts and to tech...
[00:24:51] it also has very big problems, as the domestic market has shrunk
[00:24:55] by about 30%. Strong foreign marketing
[00:24:59] work would be needed to replace this lost
[00:25:02] volume with exports abroad.
[00:25:05] Unfortunately, the
[00:25:08] factory does not have the foreign recognition, or rather,
[00:25:12] the factory's products do not have the recognition they should,
[00:25:16] precisely because it operated as a factory and not
[00:25:19] as an independent company. The decision is
[00:25:22] in the owner's hands,
[00:25:25] especially since it has been advertised for privatization
[00:25:29] four or five times already.
[00:25:32] I respect the entire past,
[00:25:35] and that's probably why I've been connected to the Zsolnay
[00:25:39] factory for over 30 years. We are currently going
[00:25:42] through a very difficult period, when
[00:25:46] everyone has bread worries, it's obviously
[00:25:49] not a priority to buy a dinnerware
[00:25:53] set, or a flowerpot,
[00:25:56] or a flower holder that... there's a small
[00:25:59] segment that might be able to afford
[00:26:02] it. Now there are investments,
[00:26:05] so since I'm
[00:26:08] very wisely following the
[00:26:10] old Zsolnay,
[00:26:12] whom I greatly respect,
[00:26:15] he was versatile, he already knew back then
[00:26:18] that one had to live on several legs, so
[00:26:22] to Eosin decorative objects,
[00:26:25] he dealt with everything, whatever was in demand at the time.
[00:26:28] Now I'm working in the pyrogranite department, so this is
[00:26:32] an architectural decorative
[00:26:35] material, things that go into the building's
[00:26:38] environment can be realized from it. And thank
[00:26:42] because there are new constructions, new investments,
[00:26:45] and so on.
[00:26:49] Here and there, the Pyrogranite roof shines beautifully,
[00:26:53] evoking the heyday of Zsolnay of Pécs. They have been
[00:26:56] renovated in the city, enhancing the atmosphere
[00:26:59] of Pécs, but many are still wondering what awaits
[00:27:02] the factory and its future. Unfortunately,
[00:27:05] at the Pest factory, we experienced
[00:27:08] that monument protection is worthless. So
[00:27:11] we are in doubt about what will happen to the Pécs factory, because
[00:27:15] the factory possesses all the shape books, decor books, and the second
[00:27:19] copies of Zsolnay's recipe books. Most of the originals
[00:27:23] went to the museum, but the second copies are there. If a
[00:27:26] foreign buyer buys it, they can close the
[00:27:29] factory and open a Zsolnay factory anywhere
[00:27:32] in the world with Zsolnay products, and there is no
[00:27:36] protection for this, it falls under the 30-year rule.
[00:27:42] The privatization tug-of-war ended just as our
[00:27:45] film was being made. The majority
[00:27:48] of the company's shares were bought by a domestic bank
[00:27:51] and Hungarian private individuals. It seems the goat ate
[00:27:55] the cabbage and the cabbage remained. The only question
[00:27:58] is how much water will flow down the fountain before Zsolnay sees better days again.