The history of 25 years, 70 years, 25 years The Complexul Muzeal in Arad MúzeumCafé 47. author: Beatrix Basics Arad occupies a special place in Hungarian history. The memory of the 13 generals executed there in 1849 provided the main impetus for collecting relics of the anti-Habsburg 1848-49 War of Independence and placing them in a museum. In Arad there was no concept of founding a museum. A Palace of Culture was planned, which […]
Approaching the international museum map? A subjective overview of museums in Transylvania MúzeumCafé 47. author: Anna Keszeg, literary historian, philosopher, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Politics, Public Administration and Communication Studies, Babes,–bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca Transylvania in the administrative sense has 300 museums. Their situation is influenced by political conflicts, as well as different ambitions and visions. Besides the museums in Sekler Land, which can be regarded as successful in terms of their community integration, there are institutions with up-to-date heritage protection in the inner region of Transylvania and the […]
The Pier Luigi Amata collection – an addendum to the Fine Arts Museum’s Italian Baroque exhibition MúzeumCafé 47. author: Eszter Csillag, art historian On 26 October 2013 the exhibition From Caravaggio to Canaletto opened in the Museum of Fine Arts as a continuation of the 2009-2010 From Botticelli to Titian display presenting, with 143 masterpieces, the schools, themes and genres of 17th and 18th century Italian painting. This article deals with two paintings of the Italian Baroque exhibition […]
One hundred public collections, one aim: building a data base of Hungarian cultural heritage – the role of MaNDA MúzeumCafé 47. author: Gábor Képes, museologist, head of department at the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute The Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), although based on a past of several decades, is relatively new in terms of Hungarian public collections. It was established by the government in 2011 on the basis of the Hungarian National Film Archive with a view of providing a common interface for digitization of the […]
Pharmaceutical collections and pharmacy museums MúzeumCafé 47. author: Berényi Marianna In Hungary the rights of Buda pharmacists were laid down in 1244. However, there are no pharmacy furnishings remaining from the pre-Renaissance period, though the inbuilt laboratory well-known from pharmacy museums, the officina (where medicine was handed over) and the separate storeroom originate from that time. The 17th century pharmacies in the Carpathian Basin, established […]
The Transylvanian complex in the Open-air Museum of Ethnography MúzeumCafé 47. author: Erika Vass, ethnographer, Open-air Museum of Ethnography Since its establishment in 1967 the Hungarian Open-air Museum has presented the folk architecture, interior decoration, way of life, farming and animal husbandry in the regions of today’s Hungary. The museum’s founding document included the future possibility of research over Hungary’s borders, and both professionals and visitors have been urging the museum to display the […]
How do public collections in Hungary gather and display items relating to the culture and history of ethnically Hungarian areas beyond the country’s borders MúzeumCafé 47. According to Zsolt Gyarmati, historian and director of the Sekler Museum of Ciuc, it is not on the basis of origin that museums collect objects. He believes it is highly probable that the material and intellectual culture with ‘Hungarian character’ of the detached regions is mainly held by the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest and […]
Scholarship or public appeal? The role of innovation in the transmission of art in museums MúzeumCafé 47. author: Krisztina Tóth The title contains two key words – innovation and museums – and for many people bringing the concepts together is not to be despised, even if the connection between them is not so obvious. Public space, experiences, interactive, child-friendly – or impersonal, boring, exacting. For most museum staff the former are preferred, while visitors, primarily […]
“There’s a certain contempt shown towards military history on the part of historical science” Róbert Hermann, scientific deputy head of the Military History Institute and Museum MúzeumCafé 46. author: Beatrix Basics Even for the public the name Róbert Hermann is primarily connected with the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–49. In the profession he is regarded as the most outstanding specialist on the military history of that period. His activities are extremely wide-ranging – he is a museum specialist, writer, editor and collector, and […]
Bronze Age settlements, church bells and small castles Interview with 100-year-old archaeologist Pál Patay MúzeumCafé 46. author: Emőke Gréczi Pál Patay’s research was mainly undertaken in two places: underground and in church towers. He was in quest of Bronze Age cemeteries, ancient Sarmatian fortress remains and early medieval earthworks, and he climbed 1300 church towers in order to compile a database of Hungary’s cast-iron bells. What could prove unceasing zeal for work better than […]