Császi Irén (szerk.): Kocsira ládám, hegyibe párnám… Ácsolt- és festett ládák a Palócföldről (Eger, 2014)
My chest on the carriage, my pillow on the top of it CARPENTERED AND PAINTED CHESTS FROM PALÓCLAND A traveling exhibition from the collection of the István Dobó Castle Museum Roznava Mining Museum Gallery Heves Local History Collection, Heves Castle Museum, Eger The István Dobó Castle Museum's collection owns several dozens of carpentered or cabinet maker made chests. The earliest pieces are nearly 250 years old. These beautifully manufactured pieces of furniture carry a lot of information, message about the everyday life of bygone centuries, people's former way of life. The world, the environment, also the people living along the Sajó river, in the Bükk or Mátra region, have changed a lot since the completion of the oldest chest in the exhibition. The exhibition invites its visitors to a time travel. Deciphering and understanding the message of the chests one can look back centuries in time. The message is encrypted, however; our ancestors "wrote" it on the chests, and it can only be understood if one knows the world in which they lived their daily lives. Manufacturing technique, decoration, regional spread, use of chests made by carpentered cabinet specialists, handicraftsmen or ’’flower carpenters” are revealed. The fancy bridal chest had its golden era in the bed carrying rituals, later with the change of the house and its interior its function also changed. From the end of the 19th century wooden toy makers, nowadays folk artists and folk art masters carry on the heritage of the crafts. Over the past decades, folk furniture in Heves County have been involved in several scientific research programs: Palóc research conducted between 1967 and 1988, Tradition and Survival National Research and Development Programme between 2002 and 2005, and the subject was detailed in a specially edited volume published in 2008 by the Castle Museum. The collection is over a fairly comprehensive process by now, which has benefited only the science so far; this traveling exhibition makes it available to the public.
