“We aren’t dozing over dusty manuscripts…” Everyday activity at the National Széchényi Library MúzeumCafé 34. author: Nóra Vágvölgyi Busi The National Széchényi Library opened for readers and researchers in 1803. It was named after its founder, Count Ferenc Széchényi, who had tracked down old national book treasures and then donated his collection for public use. After the opening, other Hungarians made donations and there were many bequests. In addition it became the national deposit […]
“With the mind of a scientist, the heart of a poet and the eyes of a painter” The Kepes Institute in Eger MúzeumCafé 34. author: Judit Jankó Hearing the name Kepes most Hungarians will probably think of a well-known TV personality with that name, but Ferenc Offenbacher and István Kaczári, founders of the Kepes Institute in Eger, would like to change that. György Kepes is far more widely known abroad than in Hungary. He was born in Selyp, a village near Eger, […]
The museum’s true mission under a golden roof The Louvre’s new Islamic art collection MúzeumCafé 34. author: Orsolya Radványi, art historian Objects of Islamic art from the Middle East have amazed the western world for centuries. It is no wonder that from the 12th century masterpieces made in the Middle East or Egypt could be found in the treasuries of the monarchs, Church dignitaries, orders of knighthood and monastic orders of one of the oldest and […]
Place of research, treasure trove, keeper of nature Natural History Collections are in danger across the world MúzeumCafé 34. author: Ottó Merkl, curator, Hungarian Natural History Museum The natural sciences and museums have always been inseparable. Specimens in natural history collections represent both the diversity of the Earth’s natural world and the still natural spots of the biosphere. Moreover, species not present elsewhere can be found in these museums. They store as much information as the world’s largest libraries. However, to make […]
Digital, infrared, UV, X-ray The practical uses of photographing works of art MúzeumCafé 34. author: Brigitta Bugya, art historian The basic role of photographing works of art did not change with the introduction of digital cameras, but the work of photographers has been extended with creative tasks not technically possible before. Today, creating reproduced images is much simpler. The analogue world’s adventurous but time-consuming techniques of photography have been replaced by a digital system […]
“Remaining human amidst inhumanity” The OMIKE Artists’ Action, 1939–1944 MúzeumCafé 34. author: Beatrix Basics, art historian The idea of establishing the National Hungarian Jewish Cultural Society (OMIKE) was first raised in 1887. Then in 1908 Simon Hevesi called for a Jewish social and cultural organisation. OMIKE was founded the following year and functioned until spring 1944. The founders and managers included industrialist and art collector Baron Adolf Kohner and MP Pál […]
New type of discourse with museum visitors in Basel MúzeumCafé 34. author: Gellért Rajcsányi Basel is a small metropolis in the northwest corner of Switzerland. For centuries it has been a meeting point of cultures and peoples. The university city, nourished by the interaction of German and Latin culture, was the location of the world’s first public museum. No wonder that its example-setting initiatives are often reflected in the […]
Collection, concept, building The first 50 years of the Museum of Ethnography MúzeumCafé 34. author: János Gyarmati, chief museologist, museum of ethnography Hardly a decade after setting up the Ethnographic Department of the National Museum in 1872, a commission concluded “…the present ethnographic collection must be wound up and assigned to the Museum of Applied Arts…” What changed in only 10 years? The explanation is partly that the idea for the collection implied the establishment of a […]
What role should public museums and galleries play in the presentation of Hungarian contemporary fine arts? MúzeumCafé 34. – According to János Szoboszlai, art historian, acting head of the department of art theory at the hungarian university of fine arts and artistic director of the institute of contemporary art in Dunaújváros, those currently discussing the mission, financing and personnel matters of contemporary fine arts institutes agree that the situation is wholly untenable. However, […]
The Gulf’s new museums On the waves of the past or future? MúzeumCafé 34. author: Flórián Kund, Ph.D. student, National University of Singapore Saadiyat Island, the Island of Happiness, in the dazzling, turquoise water of the Persian Gulf, is a 28 billion dollar development a few minutes drive from Abu Dhabi’s traditional city centre. The island, will have 30 hotels, 8,000 villas and a population of 125,000. Yet the 1.5 million visitors expected for 2018 are not to […]