It is impossible that any of the museums would be closed
Talking about museums with the Minister of State for Culture, László L. Simon
MúzeumCafé 32.
Recent developments will dominate discourse about Hungary’s museums for a long time. After the dismissals of a year ago, Parliament adopted a modification of the Law on Museums. The county museum system has ceased and the transfer of provincial museums to local authority maintenance is underway, not to mention the institutional changes in archaeology. Museums are facing a new funding model, although it is unsure exactly what amount public collections will have next year. Consequently uncertainty is considerable, while plans for a new, large-scale museum quarter in the capital are being outlined. MúzeumCafé asked László L. Simon, Minister of State for Culture, how he saw the present situation and the future of Hungarian museums. He talked about the importance of catalogues being published in time and the range of goods museum shops have on offer. As a minister he thinks that in two years a stable and well-operating system is going to be formed in the field of museums. There are only a few museums in Hungary he has not been to. In his view, one must not forget fundamental museum tasks, and the aim is naturally not to turn museums into higgledy-piggledy institutions. In addition, museums cannot be mixed with either galleries holding temporary shows or business enterprises dealing in valuable works of art. A museum has a collection and increasing that collection is a basic task that has to be continuously undertaken, as does documenting and scientifically researching the collection. The new museum financing model involves a professionally-based system that will be appropriate for significantly encouraging institutions to improve the most important professional indicators.