Petercsák Tivadar: Várak és múzeumok - Studia Agriensia 29. (Eger, 2010)
Előszó
INTRODUCTION Castles and museums have played a determining role in my life. They form a theme that runs from Füzér Castle, which rises above the village where I was bom, through the castles at Sárospatak and Szerencs, to Eger Castle, a fortress that is synonymous with heroism and patriotism. My 37-year museum career spanned three institutions: the Rákóczi Museum in Sárospatak, the Zempléni Museum in Szerencs and the István Dobó Castle Museum in Eger. In Sárospatak I was responsible for enlarging the ethnographical collection and carrying out the public education programmes, whereas in Szerencs my attention turned to organizing the collections, writing up the postcard collection, putting on exhibitions, and opening the Komlóska peasant cottage to the general public. Following the occupation of a number of senior positions, in 1989 I was made not only chief curator of the Castle Museum, but director of the Fleves County Museum Service. It was here in Eger that I realized that with the advantages of a castle guaranteeing a large visiting public came the unavoidable issues of maintainance, reconstruction and permanent access. During the course of my two decades in Eger we upgraded the permanent exhibition, took part in successful exhibitions both at home and abroad, undertook some fruitful research projects, and published books and periodicals that were accompanied not only by significant restoration work, but by the kind of investments, initiatives and programmes, that were likely to enhance tourism at a regional level by offering a more diverse castle experience. The mint, the Ispotály Cellar, the waxworks, the Border Castle Festival, the summer castle camp, the Dobó Bastion conference hall, the new exhibition spaces, the changing of the guard, the reproduction cannons and the subterranean passageway tour all meant that it was possible to exploit the historical surroundings successfully. What you have in the pages that follow is a collection of writings arising from the experiences gained at three castles and three museums. These address issues relating to the collections in question, the mnning and financing of the institutions, visitor numbers, reconstmction work, museum history and, last but not least, the cult of Eger Castle. The twenty-five pieces selected here first appeared in local and national journals, as well as occasional and other lesser publications and studies from 1973 onwards. This volume, therefore, is a means of expressing my thanks to all my colleagues from the distant and not so distant past, and I hope a source of interest to all who read it.
