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El Greco’s world-famous painting “Annunciation” is now on display in the Munkácsy Hall.

The Museum of Fine Arts has given the painting to the institution in exchange for the Golgotha, which is on loan for the exhibition of Mihály Munkácsy’s life work.

Domenikos Theotokopulos, known to most as El Greco, painted the Greeting of the Angels several times. The painting in the Museum of Fine Arts collection was painted around 1600.

The painting is not only a defining work of Spanish Mannerism but also helps visitors to the Déri Museum to prepare their souls to receive the Christmas miracle, the birth of the Saviour, Bishop Ferenc Palánki said at the presentation of the painting.

“The scene depicts the angel, the heavenly angel, coming to Mary and telling her God’s will, and this scene should get us in the mood for the Advent season and the celebration of Christmas,” he pointed out.

The El Greco painting is displayed in the Munkácsy Hall next to the Golgotha pre-study. Both paintings come from the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

The Déri Museum has loaned the original Golgotha for the exhibition “Munkácsy – The Story of a World Success”, which opened on Tuesday. Mayor László Papp said it had taken many years of work to bring  “The Christ Trilogy” of Munkácsy together in Debrecen. It is a great honour to have a painting from Debrecen at the exhibition in Budapest. Thanks to the cooperation between the two museums, the priceless work by El Greco can be seen in the place of the Munkácsy painting, the mayor added.

“It is a great honour to welcome the painting here in Debrecen. I am confident that the Déri Museum will have many visitors from Debrecen and the surrounding area during Advent. It will give a little boost to the museum’s visitor numbers,” László Papp said.

El Greco’s painting is on display at the Déri Museum until 6 January, the day of the Epiphany.

Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit: debrecen.hu