A Herman Ottó Múzeum évkönyve 48. (2009)

Tarczai Béla: 150 éve született Gálffy Ignác (Emlékezés és főhajtás)

A múzeumalapító Gálffy Ignác helyet kapott a Herman Ottó Múzeum Pantheonjában a Papszeren álló épület falán. Miskolc Megyei Jogú Város Közgyűlése megbecsülése jeléül utcát nevezett el róla, ami a Győri kapuból nyílik, és 2004 óta a Város ünnepén kiosztott díjak között a 3. helyen szerepel a „Gálffy Ignác-életműdíj" is. IN MEMÓRIÁM IGNÁC GÁLFFY ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH The smdy offers an overview of the life and activity of Ignác Gálffy, transferred to Miskolc from Transylvania by a decree of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. He was active as an organiser of public education, founder of a school and museum, prehistorian and novelist, and also played a prominent role in the city's life. Gálffy arrived to Miskolc in 1881 as a young man of twenty-two years. He was appointed director and teacher of the higher elementary school. He found support and a forum for his views in the Civic Casino and the Association for Public Education. He ably performed the duties assigned to him in the higher elementary schools, and founded Hungary's first commercial secondary school, organised the training of students in vocational schools and also acted as director of the kindergartens. He played a prominent role in the foundation of the Miskolc museum. He acted as the museum's director for thirty-six years, during which time he was also actively engaged in archaeological, historical and ethnographic research. He founded and continuously enlarged the city's first public library. During his sixty years in Miskolc, Gálffy was offered and accepted various posts in fifty municipal committees, associations, public institutions and economic organisations. He also found the time and energy to build his own family business. Gálffy married in 1885 and had three children. His two daughters became teachers in the commercial secondary school founded by him, while his son became a lawyer and acted as the town's mayor between 1944 and 1949. His first wife died in 1930. He later remarried: his second wife was a renowned teacher. No matter how much he became a resident of Miskolc during the decades he lived in the city, Gálffy retained an awareness of his Transylvanian (Székler) roots. His one great dream was to unite the Széklers of Transylvania and Hungary in a Székler alliance. He worked out a detailed operational order for the organisation, which he published in a booklet in 1914. The world war, however, swept away even the hope of achieving this dream. Gálffy fought against the injustice imposed by the Trianon Peace Treaty. He did not live to see the re-annexation of northern Transylvania to Hungary. He died on June 4, 1940. Béla Tarczai