The court said that the painting forms an “irreplaceable” part of Hungary’s cultural heritage and it upheld an earlier decision by the national heritage authority. Earlier this year, the authority for the protection of national heritage declared “Golgotha” a listed work of art, preventing its removal from the country without a permit and giving the state pre-emption rights for its purchase, in a non-appealable decision.
The municipal court’s decision can be appealed before the supreme court.
Hungarian-American Imre Pakh, the owner, ordered the painting to be veiled from public view at a museum in estern Hungary last year, after failing to reach an agreement on its sale to the state of Hungary.
The painting belongs to Munkacsy’s famous “Christ Trilogy”, all three of which hang in Debrecen’s Deri Museum. The state has owned “Ecce Homo!” for years and it recently acquired “Christ Before Pilate”, another of the three, from Canada’s Art Gallery of Hamilton for 5.7 million US dollars, with funding from the National Bank of Hungary’s programme to buy national art treasures.
The central bank earlier indicated it was willing to pay 6 million dollars to acquire “Golgotha”, but Pakh asked for 9 million dollars. Pakh’s offer included the loan of all 52 Munkacsy paintings in his collection for a period of 12 years as well as pre-emption rights for the works.