Bányai Balázs - Kovács Eleonóra (szer.): A"Zichy-expedíció"- Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei. A. sorozat 48. (Székesfehérvár, 2013)
The "Zichy Expedition"
The 175th anniversary of the birth of Count Jenő Zichy (1837-1906) was remembered by the town of Székesfehérvár, King Saint Stephen Museum and the Archives of Székesfehérvár. The town erected a statue to honor the Count who was born in Szentmihály - today Sárszentmihály, also in Fejér county. The statue, made by Benedek Nagy, stands in the park that bears the Count’s name since 1879. The two institutions mentioned organised a temporary exhibition titled “The Zichy expedition” in the exhibition hall of the Museum in Megyeház street. The “mobile version” of this exhibition could also be seen in Zichy’s native village Sárszentmihály and in Aba, today united with Felsőszentiván, former center of his lands. The exhibition as well as the following scientific conference on the Count’s main activities, was financed with the support of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. The scientific conference, - as its title “The cosmopolitan in his homeland” indicates - focused on the activities of the Count in County Fejér. The closing event of the festivities was an exhibition “Jenő Zichy, honorary citizen of Székesfehérvár” in the town Archives. The present volume contains the written and photographic material of the exhibition and the written version of the lectures of the conference. One of the most interesting elements of Zichy’s career is the story of his expeditions to Asia. This is where this work borrows its title from. However, the main goal was to shed light onto the bigger “expedition”, that is Zichy’s entire life. This volume presents the history of his ancestors, his family, the places in his life, his activities as a politician, patron and public person, the story of the most famous events, and establishments connected to his life. The lectures of the conference present the themes that characterized him, without intending to cover all details of his eventful life. The goal was to paint a living Zichy-portrait in that not only the traditional view but a re-evaluation can have its role. The book is divided into two parts, partly to make it internationally available, partly in order to ensure its accessibility for all presently living members of the Zichy family a number of whom, in the post-war diaspora, do not speak the language of their ancestors. The authors and the older generation of the Zichy family - some of whom, in fact, are sponsors of this book - want to enable future generations to get an image of a prominent ancestor’s work. Due to this form of editing it is inevitable that the reader finds repetitions, for this introductory summary speaks of all important elements of Zichy’s life, that the studies later explain in detail. Repetitions are minimized, but without them a lot of elementary information would be left out of the summary or the studies.
