Szabadfalvi József: Írások Herman Ottóról és a Herman Ottó Múzeumról (Borsodi Kismonográfiák 25. Miskolc, 1987)

open from 1920. A significant change came in the activity of the Museum when in 1913 the Public Education Society passed it to Borsod County and town Miskolc to run and maintain. The Museum took the building in full possession by 1930. The first exhibition was rearranged in 1927 and in 1938-39, i.e. it was significantly enlarged. Then the Museum consisted of 11 show rooms, two store rooms, two studies, two corridors and 7 basement rooms. The 11 show rooms harboured the following shows: archeology in two rooms, medeaval material in one, historical relics in three rooms and Bertalan Szemere's, Ottó Herman's and the historian of the town József Lévay's relics in one room. In 59 specimen cases and 105 tableaus 4295 objects and 314 pictures were demonstrated. In addition to the permanenet exhibitions many short, so-called temporary exhibitions were also arranged. The subjects of the 74 exhibitions arranged upto the liberation were varied. Just to mention a few of them: History of Miskolc, Folk Art of County Borsod, Relics of Diósgyőr Castle, Memories of the Hungarian Civil Revolution in Borsod, History of Printing in Miskolc, Battle at Muhi, The Hundredth Anniversary of Miskolc Theatre. The Borsod-Miskolc Museum was the only regular place in the town for fine art exhibitions. Here literary and scientific readings were regularly held. From the beginning of the century a part of these were published in the Annual of Borsod Miskolc Society for public Education and Museum. In the first decade of the century it must have been a remarkable initiative that possibilities were provided for schools to hold lessons in history, science and drawing in the exhibition halls. As the first director of the Museum Andor Leszih recalls: "Many schools had classes in history here (Ancient Times, Medeaval Age). Instead of drawing lessons the students studied and drew folk art objects, folk art designs, they saw the picture show, every time receiving regular explanations and lectures that fitted in the course of teaching". The collection profile of the Museum was almost the same as nowadays. Significant archeological excavations were made from the beginning mainly by Ignác Gálfi, Ottokár Kadic, Jenő Hillebrand, Andor Leszih, Géza Megay and then by László Vértes and Andor Saád. They intensively collected the historical relics of the county and of the town and artists' work in the town and the region. The so called travelling exhibitions from Upper Northern Hungary got to Miskolc in 1905 owing to Bertalan Balogh's strenuous pioneer activity. Adolf Fényes', Pál Szinyei Mer211