Why are there so many candy pink cushions on chairs?
The castle was built in the Louis-Seize Romantic style, i.e. it is reminiscent of French romanticism, of the world of Rococo where everything was exaggerated and over-decorated, when even bushes in the park had to grow differently from their natural shape. Aristocratic circles throughout Europe were imitating the French court and the same was occurring on Rye Island.
Manor houses were built in true Château de Versailles style, including lots of silk and damask fabric and perfectly measured and cut lawns and paths filled with fine gravel where ladies and gentlemen in powdered wigs could stroll, just as depicted on the sofa in our reception hall. Just like the Rococo style, life in this period was a lavish, colourful affair, full of flourish, as if everything was coated in pink sugar icing. This lightand and slightly frivolous world returns to us in the furnishings of our halls and rooms, the mood mirrored in the motifs of Bourbon lilies on the hall walls (which incidentally were stamped with a simple woodblock) or in the garlands and wreaths in the reception halls, so popular in Classicism.
Why does our hotel bear the name Amade? Vrakúň was once the seat of the noble Amade family, whose age-old family nest stood right here on this very spot. In the playful, candy coloured period lived a dreamy poet, baron László Amade. László was a man of the world, a great womanizer who enjoyed the pleasures of life. (one of his works is a long poem listing the names of the beauties he seduced - a pinnacle of artistic indiscretion). Despite this, in the 18th century he was the most European of Hungarian poets and a favourite among aristocratic salons of Rye Island. For this reason one wing of the mansion was named after him - "Le Baron".
In the restaurant as well, it was my aim to recreate the romantic atmosphere of the style in which the mansion was built. The design of the wainscoting is taken from French patterns, but on the curtains appear small flowers found in the meadows of Rye Island. In contrast, the Chinese room can take us away to a remote, exotic world. Chinese vases in niches are the work of a local ceramist and include a frog from the coat-of-arms of Vrakúň on their lids. (When furnishing I tried to cooperate with local craftsmen as much as possible and it was only due to their skill and creativity that the beauty we now know as the Amade Château Hotel was born. They deserve our thamks!)
The Czech artist, Oto Bláha, painted the walls of the confectionery with typical views of the landscape óne may see strolling around Rye Island, done in the style of grisaille wallpapers. (He also added a frog to the hotel logo.) Every corner of the mansion evokes the sweetness of bygone times, the delights of which we may still taste even now. Amade Château was created for the people of today, and by taking us back to the past, it will enrich and sweeten our present life.
Be our guest!
by decorator Éva Nagyvendégi
