Directing transformation
Tibor Hable, archaeologist
MúzeumCafé 20.
The basic tasks remain, only now the CNHP can be managed in an integrated system involving the National Museum. It might not be the only good approach, but the framework can be filled with professional content. It gives protection as well as setting limits. There is central coordination. What is of value – for example, laboratories for scientific analysis – will remain. Relations with education for the moment are an open question, though what is clear is the demand that specialist training should break out of its confines. A basic task would be to coordinate training for restoration and for that this institution could be the logistical centre. The connections of the provincial universities with museums are much stronger and they rather like to participate in the execution of practical tasks. The integration of professional protocols and the development of pricing regulations offer a great possibility to reduce the current national state of disarray. The personnel, the institutions, urban archaeology, green-field investments all require that we work together. An essential condition is that the Budapest History Museum’s more than 50 years of experience is integrated into this system. The new idea of the Centre for National Heritage Protection is inspiring, since a real coordinating institution should be established. The Centre continues to take part in several Hungarian and international projects, for example the successfully won Norwegian Foundation’s TÉKA tender, or the EU-initiated NEKIFUT programme for assessing the condition and synchronising the development of national research infrastructures. The institute currently has on-going cooperation agreements with several foreign bodies, including INRAP of France, Landesamt für Archeologie in Saxony and the Angkor Foundation, which coordinates Indian and Cambodian research.