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Conference Report on the Restoration, Conservation & Adaptation of Eszterhaza as a Music Academy & Training Institution

World Monuments Fund, in association with the Hungarian National Board for the Protection of Historic Monuments and the European Mozart Foundation, convened a four-day charrette during the winter of 1993 to evaluate the feasibility of installing a school of music, the European Mozart Academy, along with training institutes for other disciplines including architectural conservation, musical instrument restoration, the culinary arts, and sound recording in Eszterhaza, a 126-room Baroque castle built at the end of the 18th century by Prince Miklos Esterhazy. Such adaptive reuse was viewed favorably by the Hungarian National Board for the Protection of Historic Monuments since Eszterhaza had previously hosted the composer Joseph Haydn throughout most of his career. The results of the charrette suggest that the buildings of the Eszterhaza and the surrounding historic landscape could accommodate the new educational and administrative occupants, as well as tourists seeking to enjoy Central European orchestral music played in its original setting, for an estimated cost of $16 million.

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