Foundation, ecclesiastical and private museums
An overview of institutes not maintained by the state and/or local authorities
MúzeumCafé 38.
In Hungary there are more than 100 museums maintained by church authorities and private or public foundations funded by non-profit or profit-making organisations, and there are 15 private individuals complying with the strict legal prescriptions relating to museums. True, the majority maintain a ‘museum’ for displaying a collection even if legally they cannot be considered as such, though in many cases the collections compete with other institutes with an official permit. Hence with the introduction of new categories – ‘public collection of national interest’ and ‘cultural value of public interest’ – the cultural ministry aims to moderate the obligations. The 37 ecclesiastical museums were mainly established in the 1970s, the majority of them owned by the Catholic Church. In numerous places the exhibitions have been renewed, as have the buildings which are listed monuments. The biggest problem, however, is the lack of specialists. Independently of their different legal prescriptions, all museums have to comply with certain requirements. Thus whatever the nature of their funding body, the conditions relating to staff, conditions for visiting have to match those of state and local authority maintained institutes. Due to the strict conditions numerous small private collections have not applied for museum status. The ministry has recognised this issue and thus according to its announcement the 2001 law on protection of cultural heritage is in the process of being amended, such that between a museum institute and a collection declared protected two transitional legal categories will be introduced – the public collection of national interest and the cultural value of public interest. The stipulations regarding these categories will be milder than those relating to both protected status and full museum status.