Gergely Buzás, archaeologist and art historian, new director of the Hungarian National Museum’s King Matthias Museum in Visegrád
MúzeumCafé 26.
“I have always worked as an archaeologist at the museum in Visegrád. Indeed, even when I was a university student I was involved with research about the royal palace there, in addition to studying medieval architecture and stone carving.” Gergely Buzás, the recently appointed director of the King Matthias Museum immediately highlights his local connections. “By various means we are attempting to create a museum in Visegrád which could be a focus for medieval research covering the entire Danube Bend, since during the Middle Ages this region was always the political and cultural centre of Hungary. Here can be found the richest, most varied and the best quality archaeological sources for researchers specialising in medieval Hungary.” The aim of Ger-gely Buzás as the new director is for the HNM to transform the King Matthias Museum in Visegrád into a new specialist medieval museum, which would be capable of coordinating major medieval archaeological research across the country with the involvement of county and town museums, as well as other national institutions active in this field of study. As it happens, the professional expertise for this already exists. Although only a total of 34 people work at the King Matthias Museum, among them five archaeologists, that number is higher than in some county museums. But that’s not the only reason for a positive perspective. Good relations have been established with many museums and universities over a period of decades. Gergely Buzás himself has taught in all the university departments in Hungary where archaeology is a course subject, and thus he has been able to establish contact with many of the young people who might well go to Visegrád for field work.