Budapest’s lights and shadows
The Budapest History Museum’s new permanent exhibition of city history
MúzeumCafé 29.
The Budapest History Museum (BHM) began preparing a new permanent exhibition of city history in 2008. The aim was that in place of the Budapest in Modern Times exhibition, which opened in 1995, a new city history exhibition created in the most up-to-date way would employ a unified approach to present the history of the capital from the early period, through medieval and Ottoman times up to the changes of 1989-90. Following lengthy professional discussion about the exhibition, it was decided that the first part would open to the public in September 2011. In the case of historical exhibitions curators usually employ two different approaches: the objects to be displayed are grouped according to defined themes, or the more traditional chronological structure is adopted. The new BHM exhibition employs a mixture of both. The leading motif of the backbone of the exhibition, the chronological part, is provided by a meandering corridor, reminiscent of the Danube, where visitors ‘swim through’ the city’s currents of time. ‘Light and shade’ in the exhibition’s title refers to the capital’s blossoming, developing periods interrupted by wars and natural catastrophes, and the re-building following devastation. By means of the historical events visitors gain an understanding of all the specifics of social, architectural and economic history which have made Budapest one of central Europe’s most fascinating cities. Apart from the objects, the exhibition includes a rich selection of inter-related textual information. Thematic sections complement the chronological presentation. Of these some deal with certain questions about the city’s history, while most are concerned with a concrete location of urban space from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century.