In my soul I’m no conservative Imre Romics, professor of urology MúzeumCafé 9. author: Gergely Mézes Professor Imre Romics is a man of much learning. He is in charge of the urology teaching hospital, pursues academic work and gives lectures on 20th-century Hungarian history. He is an art collector, historian and an enthusiastic museum-goer. Entering the Museum of Urology is like dropping by a medieval alchemist’s workshop. The professor immediately offers […]
Dr. Zsuzsanna Fodor Head of the Veszprém County Museum Directorate MúzeumCafé 9. author: György Halmos “A museum must offer a lasting experience,” asserts Zsuzsanna Fodor, Director of Veszprém County Museums. She significantly reformed the institution, and it is enough to recall that hers was the first provincial museum to employ a cultural manager – one who had studied overseas, at that. “I’m fortunate in that I got to the museum […]
An underground rock hospital in the city MúzeumCafé 9. author: Roland Borsos Castle Hill in Buda conceals a secret military bunker hospital not used since 1956. Today it is unique as a medical history museum and as an industrial monument. As “the international situation was intensifying” ‘milkmen’ began frequenting the rock hospital and ‘gardeners’ approached the flower beds with watering carts. Instead of milk and water they […]
Austria and Restitution Wien Museum; Museum für Angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst MúzeumCafé 9. author: Péter György In 1959 the opening of the Stadtmuseum Wien’s building designed by Oswald Haerdtl was an important event in the history of the Austrian capital. In 2000 the courtyard received a glass roof and the ground floor interior was changed to the design of Dimitris Manikas, though Haerdtl’s work was kept in respect. Restructuring has worked […]
Curators and exhibition designers the éminences grises of exhibitions MúzeumCafé 9. author: Péter Hamvay In the opinion of László Baán, director of the Fine Arts Museum, the best exhibition designers are not employed full-time by museums but work on the market as freelance agents. Exhibitions are more varied and cheaper if there are competitive tenders for design. The museum’s exhibition of El Greco’s Saint John has been designed in […]
Eosin – a spy story – Glass Collection, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest MúzeumCafé 9. author: Gábor Ács While the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris has only 20-25 Tiffany glass objects and the London’s Victoria and Albert Museum only a few, the collection in Budapest’s Museum of Applied Arts comprises more than sixty items. The story began in Valentin Leó Pantocsek’s laboratory in Zlatno. Pantocsek (1812–93) applied a special, thin glaze to […]
Department of Coins and Medals, Hungarian National Museum: Collection of Celtic Coins MúzeumCafé 9. author: Melinda Torbágyi, archaeologist, Head of the Department of Coins and Medals The 350,000 items of the Department of Coins and Medals comprises the second largest numismatic collection in central Europe. Its origins derive from a compilation of 2,675 Hungarian and Transylvanian coins which Ferenc Széchényi donated to the Hungarian nation in 1802. A tiny section is constituted by a few thousand Celtic coins, which represent a […]
In between change The Hungarian jewish Museum before expansion MúzeumCafé 9. author: Margit Turok, art historian, National Office for Cultural Heritage In 1896 on the occasion of the Millennium Exhibition, marking the 1000th anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarian Jewish community realized it had relatively few valuable items from its historic past. For the occasion 90 objects of art were collected from communities and individuals, however they did not […]
Future potential in urban archaeology Problems and solutions in Budapest and Vienna MúzeumCafé 9. author: Orsolya Láng, archaeologist, Budapest History Museum’s Aquincum Museum and Paula Zsidi, archaeologist, deputy director of the Budapest History Museum The idea of the workshop was raised three years ago by institutions in Vienna and Budapest focussing on archaeological heritage. The two cities share the same basic problem: continuous urban development is endangering cultural heritage across large areas. The territories of both capitals have been inhabited throughout all historic ages. Beneath today’s buildings lies the […]
Expedition in Egypt – the world built of bricks MúzeumCafé 9. author: Zoltán Horváth, egyptologist, the Egyptian Collection, Museum of Fine Arts The area where the archaeological research of the Museum of Fine Arts expedition began in autumn 2008 is situated at the opening of the fertile Fajjum Oasis, south of Cairo, by the village of el-Lahun. The burial complex crowned with a brick pyramid was established by Pharaoh Sesostris II (1880-1878 BC) and was constructed on […]