Museum quarter could be built by 2017

A bold project to create a cultural quarter in the Hungarian capital is being touted as a tool to help rebrand the city.

Laszlo Baan, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, said the project will place Budapest among the continent's top ten most important cities.

The concept follows on from the success of Vienna's Museumsquartier, the first phase of which opened in June 2001.

Mr Baan will submit a detailed proposal to the Hungarian cabinet this year. At present he estimates that the enterprise could cost as much as 30 billion forints.

Baan has already been assigned the task of merging the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts with that of the National Gallery.

The job should be finished by March 2012, although the director of the National Gallery, Ferenc Csak, believes that the project is ill thought out and has been rushed through.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock