Windmills standing in the midst of calm MúzeumCafé 18. author: Marianna Berényi In Hungary around 854 windmills ground wheat in 1863, 1873 and 1906 respectively. Of them forty still exist – twenty-one are partly renovated as protected buildings, the rest have either a new function or stand locked up and empty. The majority of the protected mills are situated in the Kiskunság and Nagykunság regions on the […]
Bricks living with us Everyday art in the Veszprém Brick Museum MúzeumCafé 18. author: György Halmos The most visited part of Veszprém’s construction museum is its brick section, the Tegularium. Museum director Klára Gy. Lovassy, gave me a guided tour. It turned out at the very beginning of our conversation that the number of visitors is rather low, as is characteristic of technical museums. Ms. Lovassy would naturally be pleased if […]
The perfect harmony of intention and necessity Renaissance of the Dubniczay Mansion in Veszprém MúzeumCafé 18. author: György Halmos It’s no exaggeration to say that, four years after its re-opening, the Dubniczay Mansion has risen from the dead and become one of Veszprém’s major attractions. Previously the building had to be concealed from the view of the world-famous performers and their fans arriving for the annual Veszprém Festival. Today, however, with the Bishop’s Palace […]
Who really painted Vermeer’s pictures? Some case studies concerning the difficulties of attribution MúzeumCafé 18. author: Gábor Martos Painting Light, One of the most intriguing works in Painting Light, the exhibition of impressionist and post-impressionist works, which opened at the Albertina in Vienna last autumn and ran until February, was Claude Monet’s 1885 Bank of the Seine at Port-Villez. In fact, there were two versions on display! For almost fifty years one of […]
Late antique jug from Budakalász decorated with hunting scenes MúzeumCafé 18. author: Tivadar Vida, archaeologist, ELTE institute of archaeology The jug decorated with hunting scenes found during excavations of an Avar Age cemetery (6-8 century AD) in Budakalász in 1989 is a valuable item of late antique and early Byzantine art in the Carpathian Basin. The jug was cast using the so-called lost-wax method. Today it is covered with a noble patina of greenish […]
Sewing or adhesive Two methods for restoring old textiles MúzeumCafé 18. author: Éva Bagi, textile restorer, Ferenc Móra Museum When we have to restore a textile art object first we have to determine its basic materials. Paper, wood, metal and fabric are often found together. Other experts have to be involved in consultations about the restoration – after all, no historian would be happy if a hero’s blood were to be cleaned from a […]
The Marian Cult in Transylvania The exhibition at the Rezső Haáz Museum in Odorheiu Secuiesc MúzeumCafé 18. author: Gabriella Fábián, ethnographer The aim of The Marian Cult in Transylvania exhibition is to present a rich but little known array of religious relics. The exhibition concentrates on statues and pictures of the Virgin Mary, leaving out the similarly rich range of frescos, printed materials, textiles, gold and silversmiths’ works, and statuettes. Furthermore, among representations of the Virgin […]
Conferences about transformation Museums and that ‘something else’ MúzeumCafé 18. author: Anna Czékmány, theatre historian, National Museum and Institute of Theatre History Today ‘something else’ is slowly taking over museums. Exhibition objects in glass cabinets, hanging on wall which are roped off and within meticulously furnished interiors are becoming less interesting in comparison with the varieties of related information. Today a museum has to consider visitors not as passive spectators needing instruction but as active participants, even […]
The paradigm of adult education in mediating culture in museums MúzeumCafé 18. author: Mihály Kurta, museum andragologist, Ottó Hermann Museum, Miskolc Andragogy meaning adult education, the principle and practice of lifelong learning, has existed since the 1980s when the system of education involving andragogy was introduced, involving education for life. It has its specific object and research method, and thus constitutes an independent branch of science analysing the theory and practice of lifelong learning. Museum andragogy […]
The award-winning Tiszazug Museum of Geography Special prize of the ICOM Hungarian National Committee MúzeumCafé 18. author: Mária Béres, director of the museum Last year, in the framework of the ‘Museum of the Year’ competition, the Tiszazug Museum of Geography, with its visitor-friendly permanent exhibition installed in a newly renovated building and its outstanding museum education activities, was awarded a special prize by the Hungarian National Committee of the International Council of Museums. The Tiszazug Museum of Geography, […]