Dénesi Tamás (szerk.): Collectanea Sancti Martini - A Pannonhalmi Főapátság Gyűjteményeinek Értesítője 5. (Pannonhalma, 2017)
II. Közlemények
264 Bogdán Melinda: Az időkapszula Melinda Bogdán The Time Capsule – Photographs from the Ciborium Altar In 2015, when the main altar of the Basilica of Pannonhalma constructed in 1873 was taken to pieces, a metal cylinder came to light, which had been walled up in the altar’s pedestal. The time capsule contained documents about the state of the Archabbey in 1873, coins and devotional medals and picture, etc. The peculiarity of the finding is the collection of photographs in the cylinder representing members of the contemporary ecclesiastical and secular hierarchies. The features of the pope were only found on a silver coin. Separate photographs show Cardinal Antonelli, Secretary of State (the omnipotent “prime minister” of the Vatican), János Scitovszky, Archbishop of Esztergom, prince-primate, a group pho-tograph of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and Krizosztom Kruesz, Arch abbot of Pannonhalma. In the capsule, secular authority is only represented by the portrait of the royal couple: Franz Joseph and Queen Elisabeth. Of the two only the latter one was an ori-ginal photography, the other one was the reproduction of a painting. Politicians were only represented by Ferenc Deák, “the wise man of the nation”, who prepared the Austro-Hungarian Compromise in 1867. None of these photographs were taken for the occasion in 1873, they were simply collected in Pannonhalma or Győr. What is contained in the time capsule of Pannonhalma is not only a peculiar way of making use of photography. It also reflects monastic self-representation: what is regarded important to be made public about the community, in addition to what and who are regarded essential for themselves.
