Flags, wreath ribbons, headgear
Working with a textile collection
MúzeumCafé 17.
The 19th century witnessed increased demand for the gathering of valuable documents and objects with a view to preserving traditions. This led to the foundation of museums and following that to the establishment of professional restoring. Until then restoration was related exclusively to different crafts and included the processes of renovation, reconstruction and repair, since in this way the craftsman, as he or she often does today, made an old object usable for the given age. Museum experts came to realise that art objects must be approached from a molecular level and restoration must begin from the chemical foundations. We are trying to create the conditions for the object whereby the process of disintegration slows down or ceases in ideal cases. We adjust all the work stages in the restoration process to the art object in question. For the restorer the object is the witness of a bygone age and if he/she approaches it with appropriate humility and respect it can reveal a great deal. It must be treated together with its past, since it can happen that the object becomes a museum piece due to some damage or blemish of historical significance. Restoration in Hungary began to develop quite significantly during the 1960s. Training started in museums and by now there is a university course. The profession increasingly ‘forges ahead’ – several Hungarian restorers are highly acknowledged abroad. Nationally Szeged became fortunate because already in the 1960s the museum’s textile collection was supervised by an artist designer-textile restorer, the first among museums in the provinces. Since then, with my involvement, restoration activity in Szeged has been continuous. Moreover, in 2008 a young colleague began learning the profession, thus the future of the collection is hopefully secure.