Reformulation of the tasks of county museums in the wake of changes in the organisational structure
MúzeumCafé 41.
Hungary’s Law CLII passed on 8 October 2012 with respect to museums, administration of public libraries and general education is a modification of Law CXL of 1997. Of concern here is that its provisions cover “museum institutes, their funding bodies and employees, the elements of cultural heritage held by museums, the users of services provided by museum institutes”. The section about museum institutes is supplemented with the following paragraph 37/A: “Museum institutes are the most important trustees for realising the aims related to protecting those cultural goods defined in this law.” The text summarises these as follows: “The museum institute stands in the service of society; is open to the public; it maintains active relations with the local community; its basic sphere of activity is not based on generating a profit, but on ensuring broad-ranging and equal access to cultural goods.” It is necessary to quote all this at length since it is complemented with elements – such as performance and economic activities – which clearly imply new kinds of tasks for museums. The abolition of the county museum structure has brought about an entirely new situation in the life of provincial museums. The law also determines professional ranking, for example by differentiating between seven types of museums. In addition to state support, local authorities are obliged to participate in providing financial backing for museums which, as experience so far shows, has not happened everywhere. Local museums with county rights and the former branch institutes believe that the period involving county, state and local authority funding was good or bad in relation to different aspects. Efforts should be made to develop some kind of balance between freedom and limitations.