Special Ferenc Liszt Installation at Budapest's Main Airport

2025 is an important year in the history of Ferenc Liszt International Airport, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of its opening in May this year. To mark the occasion, the airport's operating company, Budapest Airport, part of the VINCI Airports network, was preparing a year-long celebration focusing on Ferenc Liszt’s legend and the 75-year-long history of the airport. The series of activities was crowned by the inauguration of a very special installation: a unique three-dimensional portrait of the eponymous composer by Czech artist Patrik Proško was inaugurated on December 19 at Terminal 2B.

In the creative process, Proško used only period elements, which are characteristic of Ferenc Liszt. The final work was made up of thousands of instruments and parts, authentic artifacts and historical documents reflecting Liszt’s life, work and legacy. It was created using the so-called anamorphic technique, i.e. distorted perspective, which requires the active participation of the viewer: the installation aligns into a visually interpretable image only when the viewer finds the right vantage point. The installation can be viewed by clicking here.

“This year’s anniversary is a meeting of past and future, which also paved the way for a long-term development phase,” Máté Lóga, chairman of the Board of Directors of Budapest Airport, said at the inauguration ceremony. He added that “the anniversary year has given us the opportunity to look back and celebrate our successes. At the same time, we also celebrated Hungarian culture, as the event was built around the life’s work of our namesake, Ferenc Liszt. The inaugurated installation is a fitting end to a great year. Major developments for the next decade are on the horizon, and behind the scenes we are preparing the airport of the future.”

The artist, Patrik Proško highlighted that he "conceived the anamorphosis of Ferenc Liszt as a stage, presenting the entire process of how music comes into being. The piano placed inside the composer’s head represents his mind, in which the initial vision is transformed into a score of symphonic poems. In the installation, I used instruments over 100 years old, along with parts from the manufacturing process — making the stage itself a kind of musical workshop that portrays Liszt’s genius; showcasing the process of creating his works, from the first idea through notation to the performance.”